The World of Gaming
by White-Jet
Summary: Chapter 3 - Arcade Sprites are slowly dying due to the clouds covering their skies. A lone sprite is looking for the meaning of her existance and Luigi is still waiting for his brother to return. (Rate T for minor profanity among kid-friendly characters)
1. Death and Resurrection Chapter 1

Author's Note: This is something I did mainly for fun (An inspiration of some episodes I watched on a videogame show called "Icons"). Some of you might be confused with my descriptions (Which I'm having a problem trying to clear up, but it's getting better nontheless). I just thought it would be fun to try and take a bit of videogame history and turn it into a story from a different perspective (Which some of you might not be happy with once you start reading it, but you'll see why in my OOC...if you even get to it).

1 – Adjusting to New Environments

We gamers have heard it before: in magazines, TV, and the Internet; all calling this form of digital entertainment "the gaming world'. But what if there really was such a world? A world where video game characters lived a like, whether they where heroes or villains, living creatures or inanimate objects that move according to commands from a controller. If such a world existed, would it exist like the real world, only more adventurous?

Maybe the world we talk about does exist, just not in the same galaxy we live in. We may not have seen it, or even believe it exists, but if it did, there would be one question on our minds, how would the gaming world function if it had the same environment as us? The gaming world depends on popularity of our world in order to survive. If people were to stop playing video games and soon forgot what made them so popular, it would take a toll on the world that was created by how many have loved the challenge of picking up a controller and playing a video game.

The Videogame World had existed long after the rise of computer technology. Like the earth itself, the world changed according to evolution. First, Pong paddles and balls roamed the world, then space ships flew around it, blasting aliens and asteroids that try to destroy the world.

A gigantic Island soon formed on the blue world that the space ships were fighting to protect. After many years passed, the giant Island began to split into two, one in the form of an arcade machine, another in the form of an Apple II computer. Since videogame characters could remember, these were their homes, called "Arcade Island" and "Computer Island". The videogame characters that now existed on the Islands lived like we do on modern day earth. Races are determined by the companies they were made from and, as the arcade grew in America, more heroes and villains began to form around Arcade Island. It was overwhelming at first, but everyone soon adapted to the growing population.

Computer Island, on the other hand, remained non-existent to those of Arcade Island. Once the Islands split, it soon disappeared from existence, never to be seen for many years. Taking the Island's place is that of an Atari2600 joystick-like Island, called "Console Island".

Co-Existing with Console Island allowed them to gain access to Arcade Island's gaming resources and worked to turn it into a immigrant Island much like that of the U.S. No one knew the problems that existed on Console Island that only the inhabitants there would adjust to with little to no reason for protest...

- - -

"Run for your lives! It's coming!" cried a voice. The ground began to shake as heroes and villains stopped what they were doing and looked around to see the sky turn pitch black. A cloud of darkness hit the ground around them, turning it into baron wasteland. The cloud began to grow, expanding the size of the baron wasteland. Heroes and villains were hit with the cloud and vanished as the island became more and more lifeless. The oceans surrounding it created deadly tidal waves that swept heroes and villains out to sea where they soon disappeared. The scene of destruction continued to get worse until everything went black.

Mario's eyes shot open as he gasped and shot up in his bed, breathing heavily. It was the fifth time this week he had been having the same nightmare. His brother, Luigi, shuddered on the superstition of reoccurring nightmares being a sign of something bad coming in the near future, but Mario didn't believe in crazy stuff like that. But as the nightmares continued to haunt him every night, he began to wonder if disaster will strike in the near future.

Mario decided to get up and walk around the neighborhood for a while. When he slipped out of his top bunk, he noticed the bottom was vacant. Luigi may have gone off into the kitchen to check for food in the fridge. Being a bit of a better cook than Mario, Luigi has a habit of making sure there were enough ingredients in the fridge to make a decent meal. He then looked at the dresser drawer beside his bunk. Inside one of the drawers is a special item he planned to give to the love of his life, Pauline.

For the past year since he could remember, Mario had been going out of his way to reach Donkey Kong and the girl that was meant to be his girlfriend. At first, it was all part of a daily routine thanks to the people who wanted to play their game. But as more players began to pile into the arcades on earth, a real relationship began to grow between the "unlikely" hero and the damsel in distress. Mario had sworn he'd propose to Pauline when he got the chance. He had gathered enough coins from his rampage through the sewers with Luigi to buy the most valuable ring on the market. Now it was left to when Donkey Kong wasn't busy trying to kidnap Pauline to get down on one knee, show the ring and pop the question.

Before Mario had a chance to head for the kitchen to join his brother for a less-than-decent breakfast, there was a knock on the door of their house. The red and blue plumber walked to the door and opened it to see Pauline on his welcome mat with a rolled up newspaper under her arm.

"Mario, did you see the news?" she asked, practically excited, "You remember when the Console Island appeared half a year ago? We're being invited to that Island to check out the games that had been transferred from the arcade to every home console outside our world!"

"Wow! That's wonderful!" Mario said, almost bouncing with joy, "We'll be able to raise more popularity with the gamers at home!"

Donkey Kong lands behind Pauline, his impact on the porch almost knocking Mario to the floor, Donkey Kong Jr. sitting on his shoulder.

"Hey! How's it going, my annoying rival?" he grunts, "Heard the news from my cozy little tree house in the jungle! And...!" he adds by throwing his arms around both Mario and Pauline and pulling them towards his chest, "In celebration of our success outside the gaming world, I'm treating you both to an all out, catch-'em-as-they-come party at the Fast Food joint once we get to Console Island!" he jiggles Mario's shoulder, "Just make sure you don't catch the purple pickles by mistake. I heard eating five of them is VERY unhealthy!"

"Well..." Mario was about to answer, but then noticed Luigi almost hiding in the shadows of the kitchen before disappearing behind it with a depressed look on his face. Pauline noticed too and turned to Donkey Kong, trying to smile.

"Actually," she said, "I'm not a very big fan of junk food. And Mario has been pondering about going on a low calorie diet. So...why don't you and DK Jr. go ahead without us. When we're up to it, we'll join you." Donkey Kong seemed confused, but then shrugged.

"You're loss," he released Mario and Pauline, then looks at DK Jr., talking in a sensei-like accent, "Come, my son. It is time I teach you the fine arts of swallowing 15 flying hamburgers in one sitting." DK Jr. grunts and claps his hands as the two walked away. Mario and Pauline watched them go before heading for the kitchen, seeing Luigi sitting at the table, resting his head on his hands.

"Luigi, are you feeling okay?" Pauline asked. Luigi just looked at her, then the checker patterned cloth covering the table.

"Oh...no worries," he said, then mumbled, "Just ignore the second player soon to be forgotten..."

"Hey, don't say stuff like that!" Mario said.

"You know it's true! You had two sequels (Even if the second game had you being the villain)! I'm just some meaningless clone who pops up and pushes you around for points!"

"Oh, Luigi," Pauline said, walking closer to the green plumber and placing a hand on his shoulder, "Don't obsess over this. Before you were born, I always thought that I was just some pawn for Mario to have a reason to pursue Donkey Kong. But when I saw him for the first time, I began to think differently."

Mario walked to the other side of Luigi and placed a hand on his other shoulder, "Yeah. Just think, bro. If you and Pauline become just as popular as me, Donkey Kong and all the other arcade characters on earth, you might get your own arcade game where you get to do something heroic." Luigi looked at Mario.

"How can you be sure how many people have actually pumped in quarters and hit the second button to play me?"

"Cheer up, Luigi. You'll get your chance. Who knows, you might just become more popular than me."

"You...You think so?"

"Trust me. Have I ever let you down before?" Luigi tried to smile and eyes the checkered tablecloth again.

- - -

A plane flew over the ocean later that day. Mario looked out the window the minute the sandy shores of an Island came into view.

"Whoa, is that Console Island?" he asked in awe. Pauline looked out the window next the one Mario was looking out of, seeing more of the Island pouring into its transparent view.

"Wow, it's just as big as Arcade Island," she said in awe, "I can't wait to see what's kind of people populate this place!" she then looked at Mario, "It's too bad Luigi didn't want to come with us."

"I know," Mario looked at Pauline, "I tried persuading him last night, but he insisted that he stay behind and keep an eye on the house. He probably thinks we wouldn't like our new home and return to Arcade Island." He put his hand on the back of Pauline's shoulder, "Don't worry. He has enough money to book a plane to this Island once we settle in and he feels ready to come live with us."

"It's just that...I feel so bad for him missing out on the fun of being on an Island that controls home console games."

"I'm pretty sure Console Island is just as enjoyable as Arcade Island. A little less crowded, but still just as exciting. Luigi wouldn't miss much when he moves here."

Once the plane landed in the state of Atari2600, Mario and Pauline quickly left the station. The city they entered was full of towers with stick-figured sprites popping from window to window, some turning into arrows and flags, and random numbers that changed every minute. Billboard monitors presented rock bands and other shows in the form of 4-bit pixels. The sky was mostly black with multi-colored, pixilated and flashing asteroids flying overhead and triangular spaceships flying around and blasting them into smaller asteroids as well as violet red aliens moving around with different spaceships moving back and forth while shooting the aliens closing in on their defense shields.

"Yep, just like home," Mario said. As if on cue, a pixilated chunk of rock from one of the asteroids hits the ground in front of him, almost causing him to jump back, startled.

"Hmm..." Pauline muttered in worry, "I don't know. I've never seen any asteroid debris fall on the streets of Arcade Island before. Do you think the government of this Island has enough finances to build a forcefield that protects us from random invasions?"

"It's a wonder anyone still lives here with this much destruction going around. Let alone keep the city the way it is for this long."

"Well...let's keep looking," Pauline said, looking around, "I'm sure there are some things around here that make people want to move here, besides the fact that there's more room to move around."

The couple passed by some windows with TV monitors covering the view of inside of the appliance store. A camera stood in the middle of the wall of TVs, catching the view of anyone who walks past it and presenting it on the monitors in the form of 4-bit sprites. Mario stops and looks at one of the screens, seeing his 4-bit reflection looking right back at him. Pauline soon stops and look at herself on the TV screen.

"Hmm... The cameras in this city aren't like the ones back on Arcade Island," Mario mumbled.

"Well, I heard that this Island is still in development, so I'm sure everything would look better in time," Pauline said, "In the meantime, let's look around and see where we can find the building where our games are being developed."

"I demand to see the pixel responsible for this mess!" screamed a voice. Both Mario and Pauline looked at each other, then around the somewhat crowded city.

"That sounded like Pac-Man," Mario said. The couple then looked behind them to see Pac-Man being held back by Donkey Kong with Ms. Pac-Man standing behind him, shaking her head with her hands on her mouth as a pink, pixilated pig laid on the ground in a fetal position, shaking like a leaf. The two ran across the street in time to see Pac-Man break free from Donkey Kong's mighty grip and walk over to the trembling pig.

"You better tell me where that joke of a designer is before I...!" Pac-Man attempted to raise his red-gloved fist when Mario got in front of him and pushed him back some more. The pig quickly got up and zoomed off, squealing in a mix of long sounding beeps.

"Whoa, whoa!" Mario wailed, "Why so red, yellow guy? You're acting like that pig embarrassed you in front of the entire city."

"I don't think he's the only one who feels embarrassed," Pauline said. Mario and Donkey Kong turned to see her run up to them with three boxes, "I just went to the video game store beside us..." she hands two of the games to Mario and Donkey Kong, "You're not going to like what Atari did to our games."

Mario looked at the box, seeing what could have been Pac-Man's arcade sprite, only severely deformed with dashes and squares surrounding a blue background.

"This can't be the home console version of one of the most played arcade games in America!" he nearly wailed.

"Forget that," Donkey Kong cried, "this game is completely whacked! I bet the controls on this game are worse than those movie games I've been playing a week ago! It's like Atari was making these games just to get publicity."

"It's not just Atari," Pauline said, looking at the game in her hand, "It's like every company that comes into the game industry with little to no knowledge of creating games are going after popular titles and turning them into console games, expecting people to buy them."

"I don't wanna get famous off a crappy game that has our name on it!" Donkey Kong complained, throwing his arms around like a typical, wild ape.

"Aren't there any games on this Island that doesn't suck on all levels?" Mario asked.

"Well..." Pauline said, reaching behind her, "I did happen to come across some games from the import section of the video game store." She brings three more games out and handed two of them to Mario and Donkey Kong, "The owner said they came from ColecoVision Isle. He said the games from this state try to make the console games as close to the arcades as their memory space can carry them. And Intelevision Isle has games with better graphics than what Atari has made in the past. I'm pretty sure one of these two would have a better environment for us than where we are right now."

Another asteroid chunk hit the ground near Donkey Kong, causing him to jump.

"Oh..." Donkey Kong groaned, eyeing the floor, "But I don't feel comfortable moving here! What if those isles follow in Atari's footsteps?"

"But Arcade Island is getting too crowded," Mario said, "It's hard enough trying to find a job with this many people flooding around it. Luigi's lucky to still hold onto his job as an actual plumber, despite the lack of phone calls we've been getting nowadays. It's time we move somewhere with a little more room. Hey, I know." He looked at Donkey Kong, "Since Console Island has more space that Arcade Island, we can build our own isle."

"Our own isle?" Pauline asked, "Are you sure we can do that?"

"Sure. Gather enough money, find some uninhabited land and in little to no time at all, we'll have an isle that only allows good games to thrive like normal people."

"You think this isle will have enough money to protect us from falling asteroids and alien carcasses?" Donkey Kong asked.

"Of course. Our isle is going to be so much of a hit we'll have more money than we know what to do with. Who knows? Maybe the other Isles will have enough inspiration to do something about their environment."

"But to build an isle as big as Atari would involve a lot of money," Pauline said, "And we barely had enough to invest in a house. We'll have to get three paying jobs to be as rich as a king!"

"Don't worry, Pauline. A little saving up on the coins we have and soon we'll be the answer to all of this Islands problems."

- - -

Settling into Console Island wasn't as simple as they had expected. With the lack of force fields protecting Atari's cities from being blown to the ground by random invasions, Mario, Pauline and Donkey Kong were having problems feeling safe in their new houses.

To make matters worse, more cities began to populate Console Island with nothing but terrible games plaguing the environment and increasing chances of destruction upon the isles. The Island was soon becoming just as crowded as Arcade Island. People began to go on strike, demanding that the bad games be taken care of before something terrible happens.

"Crowded again," Donkey Kong grunts, slamming the newspaper on the table and almost breaking it in half, "I'm surprised we have enough food to last us months with the money we have left over!" DK Jr. ran around the kitchen, chasing a plastic barrel the size of a bouncing ball.

"It's not that hard," Mario said, stirring the meat sauce into a pot full of pasta, "We're at least getting enough to run down to the store every week to buy mid-day snacks."

"That's easy for you to say. You're a plumber! A simple phone call will have you coming back here with a bag of coins!"

"I wouldn't be too sure about that," Mario said taking a spoon full of sauce and sticking it in his mouth for a taste test, "I haven't gotten any phone calls concerning busted pipes for three weeks." He picks up a saltshaker and sprinkles a couple of dots into the pot, "Maybe it's time to renew my ad for plumbing service."

"What'll we do now?" Donkey Kong complained, "I don't want my son becoming the next victim of a wild asteroid chunk! Hasn't Atari issued that forcefield yet?"

"I know," Mario placed the salt shaker on the counter, reached into his overalls and took out the black box, opening it to reveal the proposal ring inside, "I was hoping to propose to Pauline when I have enough coins to afford a wedding ceremony."

"Whoa, you had that thing for so long?" Donkey Kong asked, "Why didn't you show it to her before we went broke?"

"If you had stopped dropping in on us for your usual routine of kidnapping Pauline and making me jump your barrels, I might have," Mario said with a stern look. Donkey Kong almost sunk behind the table.

"Oh yea...my bad..."

Suddenly, the doors flew open. Mario quickly shut the box, dropped it back in his overalls and turned to see Pauline standing behind the doorframe, almost out of breath.

"Pac-Man just organized a private meeting in the caves outside the city," she gasped, "I think he's the mastermind behind these protests."

"What?" Mario said, almost dropping his wooden spoon, "that's insane! He'll get kicked off the Island."

"What should we do?" Donkey Kong asked.

"Let's go see what's going and see if we can't calm him down before things get worse."

- - -

A crowd of arcade immigrants flooded the cave outside the city limits, cursing and screaming at the Island's lack of knowledge over the bad games that were flooding the city. Mario, Pauline and Donkey Kong were in the front of the crowd, looking at the fists going up and down around them, seeming a bit unsure of whether they should join the bandwagon or keep their traps shut.

After a while, Pac-Man made his way to the podium in the center of the makeshift stage hanging three feet in the air.

"People of Arcade Island!" He said through a microphone loud enough to fill the cave, "We have gathered here today to discuss issues of the bad games polluting the city we were meant to call home." He threw his hands on the podium and moved closer to the mic, "This Island is starting to show its similarities to Arcade Island, one of the many reasons we have immigrated to this Island. But it isn't being flooded with games that would keep people from leaving the arcades late at night. The person in charge of Atari is making a joke out of the games our developers have worked so hard to make a smash hit by letting these poor excuses for home console games live in our homes and steal our jobs!" he began hitting the podium, "We will not stand for this! It is time that we Arcade characters march to the palace of Atari and demand they do something about this catastrophe before we are driven out of our jobs by these lousy pieces of filth!"

Mario, Pauline and Donkey Kong eyed each other in worry.

- - -

Back at home late in the evening, everyone sat around the table, eating their dinner in silence. Donkey Kong, who would usually swallow his banana bunches without even chewing them, just sat in his chair, rubbing the tip of an already peeled banana along the top of his lips. DK Jr., being the usual, clueless, but fun-loving son of his father, dropped the banana peels on the floor before stepping on them, causing him to slip and fall on his back.

"We have to do something," Donkey Kong muttered, getting the others' attention.

"Donkey Kong, we swore we wouldn't talk about this," Pauline said. Donkey Kong threw his fists in the air and slammed them on the table, breaking it in half. Luckily, she and Mario grabbed their plates before the halved furniture caved into a heap of wood and tablecloths.

"Talk nothing!" he roared, "We've been sitting around here for months with no jobs and barely any money to keep us from going hungry and the rooms lit up during the night!"

"Give it time," Mario said, "I know this Island is starting to become overcrowded with bad games, but that doesn't mean we should go parading around the city, forcing Atari to do something and risk getting our butts kicked off the Island."

"We've given them time to fix this problem! We've given them time to make this Island as comfortable as Arcade Island! Enough time to muster up enough money to build a flipping forcefield and they're still sitting around like they don't give a hoot what happens to those who live here!" he jumped onto his chair, "Well I'm not going to stand around and expect some miracle to show up and kick Atari in the brain until they get their act together and clear up the garbage walking around our streets and taking our jobs with nothing on their minds but what they do in the games!" with that, he leaps off his chair, scoops up DK Jr. in his arms and heads for the door.

"Don't do this, Donkey Kong!" Pauline cried, "I'm sure there are other ways we can fix this problem without giving the people of this Island an excuse to deport us back to Arcade Island!" Donkey Kong stops and lowers his head, shaking it.

"Arcade Island," he muttered, then snorts, "Luigi must be the luckiest member of your family to want to stay behind. At least there, we weren't weeks away from declaring bankruptcy. Plus, any invasions outside our planet were easily avoidable by the shield surrounding it. I miss the fun of the people who flood the arcades to see us battle for control our own goals."

"Yeah..." Pauline mumbled, looking at the plate sitting in her lap, "Maybe...maybe we're just not ready to live the life of a home console environment." She looked at Donkey Kong, "We still have enough money to book a trip back to Arcade Island. If we start packing after dinner, we might be able to catch a plane back home early the next morning."

"What's the use? We're just going to return home to the same Island that will just as quickly strip us of our jobs and bring us closer to being out in the streets, begging for spare change. It's like, no matter where we go, we'll just end up running into the same problem. If the earth is as less crowded as this place, I would have conjured up a portal to that world and make a living in the jungles, eating fruits like a real gorilla without someone coming along and locking me in a cage, forcing my son to come and rescue me while trying to avoid alligators with climbing capabilities." Donkey Kong shook his head again and slammed his foot on the ground, "No! Someone has to put a stop to this! I will not have my son growing up to accept the popularity of our games made by retards who couldn't draw a stick figure to use in a game that's so easy to play, a child with crippling arthritis could pick up a controller and beat in five seconds!"

"But Donkey Kong...!" Pauline attempted to get up and run to the giant ape, but by the time she picked up her plate, he was out the door. She sighed and sat back down, scratching the top of her pasta with her fork. "Is this really what we've been reduced to? Crowded cities, lost jobs and now the pollution of bad games? Would fighting Atari's lack of commitment really help reduce the problems that are keeping us from having our house torn down for money?"

"Don't even go there!" Mario nearly wailed, "We'll find a way to make things better. We don't need to join a strike in order to clear up the problems that are giving us more of a reason to run and hide. We just need to find something that will help keep this state from turning into the slums of a bad city." He looked at the plate now sitting in his lap, "Maybe I should give Luigi a call. He should have some money to help keep us going until I can re-submit my ad for plumbing service."

"You're probably right. We'll give him a call tomorrow. I'm pretty sure he's exhausted since he had to go solo with the plumbing." Pauline began twirling a small ball of spaghetti onto her fork, "It just feels like ever since you two aren't working together for a while your business is slowly growing stale."

"I guess I was so use to working with Luigi, I didn't know what it was like wearing yourself out after a day's work." Mario began playing with the last meatball on his pasta, "I just hope he's doing a better job than we are..."

OOC: Just to let some of you Atari fans know, I'm not really trying to bash the company. I own a ColecoVision with an Atari2600 attachment, and I had some games that were fun to play (Aside from Indiana Jones and MASH, one had bad controls the other didn't have any buttons for me to use the flippin' whip, so I gave up on that game). I also had a CD that had all Atari2600 games (Including the ill-fated E.T. game that I did try, but couldn't figure out why I was falling into holes and stuff), but now it's missing. So yes, I do know what Atari's been doing in the past (Through some episodes of G4TechTV's Icon episodes and my dad who knew more about "the crash" than what I heard so far), so I have a somewhat good excuse to badger Atari's bad reputation in the past.

Next Chapter: As our world begins to slowly lose interest in the Gaming World, controversy between Arcade Immigrants and the inhabitants of Console Island began to increase. Fed up with the lack of commitment from Atari2600, Pac-Man and his bandwagon of angry characters battled for the right to get the mayors of Atari to wise up and give their citizens the respect they deserve. Meanwhile, a forgotten Island overhears the controversy and plots to put an end to the Gaming World once and for all. Is this really going to be the end of video games as we know it? Or will everyone realize their mistakes and clean up their act before the worst comes?


	2. Death and Resurrection Chapter 2

Author's Note: Yeah, you might noticed that near the end of the chapter, I went a little off on the history of video games. Back then, computers were only meant to educate people, not save the fate of video games. However, since games can be played on a computer, I figured it was a good enough excuse to slip a little off-topic (Then again, you probably wouldn't care what I did if you read this).

Revisory Note: Aside from the few grammical errors I've fixed in this and the previous chapter, I had also noticed that the current subdevider I had (Which was supposed to be tripple plus signs) had disappeared when I posted this chapter.

2 – Consequences and Sacrifices

Confetti rains the wedding chapel. Mario and Pauline walked down the stone pathway in wedding outfits as cheers and claps filled the air.

"Oh, Mario," Pauline said as they looked at each other, "We're finally getting married. This is so wonderful."

They continued down the pathway to the doors of the chapel. Inside, all game characters from Arcade and Console Island sat on the rows of benches on either side of the red carpet leading the couple to the fiberglass windows behind the giant cross. The best men and brides maids stood on opposite sides of the stairs that lead to the cross while Donkey Kong stood behind the podium in front of the cross, dressed in a priest outfit with a bible in his hand.

Once the two stopped near the podium, Donkey Kong opened the bible. Luigi, invited as one of the best men's of the wedding, walks up to Mario and places a 2ft barrel on the ground, front side up, then helps his older brother onto it. Once situated, Donkey Kong picked up the bible and began reading out of it.

"Dearly beloved," he began, "We are gathered here today to join these two lovely couples in the arms of holy matrimony." Mario looked at Pauline who closes her eyes and puts one hand on her cheek, blushing. Donkey Kong looks at Mario, "Do you, Mario, take this woman to be you lawful wedded wife? To have and to hold, in sickness and in health, for richer or poorer 'til death do you part?"

"I do," Mario said.

Donkey Kong turns to Pauline, "Do you, Pauline take this man to be your lawful wedded husband? To have and to hold, in sickness and in health, for richer or poorer 'til death do you part?"

"I do," Pauline said.

Donkey Kong closes the bible, "I now pronounce you, man and wife. You may kiss the bride."

Mario and Pauline looked at each other, laughing with excitement. Mario lifts the wedding veil covering Pauline's face and moves to kiss her on the lips when the ground suddenly shook, knocking him off the barrel. Pauline reacted to the shaking ground as she fell away from him, landing on her rump in total shock. Before either of them could figure out what happened, the chapel suddenly grew dark. All Arcade and Console characters screamed and scrambled for the door. Not soon after a few of the characters had left the chapel, Console characters and certain Arcade characters came to a screeching halt and grabbed their chests. Those who fell to the floor from the mysterious pain were beginning to dissolve into floating pixel dusts, leaving a graph-like interior that faded after a while.

Mario watched as those at the benches disintegrated into featureless masses of fading bodies, his eyes wide with panic, fear and confusion as to what and why this was happening.

"MARIO!" came a scream that turned the chapel into a pitch black, seemingly endless area. Mario whipped around to the sound of the voice and his eyes grew even wider in shock. Pauline seemed to be running towards him, but never left her spot. As she ran, her body began to disintegrate of skin, clothing and hair, exposing a graph-like body deep inside.

"PAULINE!" Mario cried, moving to his hands and knees and trying to grab her, but her fading body was too far for him to reach from where he sat.

"MARIO!" screamed another voice. Mario turned around to see Luigi trying to run for him, but was barely getting close to him as the distance between them was slowly pulling outward instead of inward.

"LUIGI!" Mario cried. He got up and was about to run towards his little brother when a shadow engulfed him. He turns around to see a human-like figure tower over him. His glasses gleamed of a well polished material as he raised his pointing stick and jabbed it towards Mario, stopping at his nose.

"The time has come," he said, pulling back the pointing stick and snapping it towards his shoulders as if he were a soldier given the command to present arms, "You have gained too much freedom from the law and order that you were destined to follow. For that, your sentence shall be extermination." With that, he raised the stick into the air as it turned into a broadsword identical to the Excalibur. Mario was too shaken by fear and shock to move as the blade glistened before it struck down on him.

Mario's eyes shot open as he gasped and shot up in bed. It wasn't the same nightmare he had been having the past several months, but it was almost identical to it. He looks at his hands clamped around the top of his sheets, wondering why he was having those nightmares all of a sudden and when they were going to stop.

- - -

Pauline sat at the table, drinking a cup of hot coffee. The table had been reconnected with duct tape. It sagged a bit, but it was still sturdy enough to hold up a few pounds without snapping in half.

"Oh...I see..." Mario muttered, sitting on the opposite side of Pauline with a wireless phone on the left side of his ear, "Yeah, things haven't been getting better here either. I'm attempting to re-submit my ad to the Editorials today. Hopefully some of the morons walking around these crowded streets will have enough brains to pick up the newspaper and read it front to back. It's almost getting to the point where cooking decent food is taking chunks out of our account. I don't think we'll have enough money left to even pay our debts in time." Pauline rested the bottom of the cup on the saucer, looking at Mario with a bit of worry in her eyes, "Yeah, it was good talking to you too, bro. Later." Mario pulled the phone away from his ear and pressed the off button, resting it on the table.

"No dice?" Pauline asked.

"Look's like Luigi's having no luck either. The farthest he's gotten was volunteer work at a cooking sale in a Galaga space station. Arcade Island is getting so crowded, he couldn't make enough food for everyone to eat before their next shift into space. He couldn't even meet the demands of several houses and workplaces calling him up for plumbing service. I'm not sure if he can last another second out there."

"Did you ask Luigi if he was planning to move here?"

Mario slowly shook his head, "He's been through enough. I'm afraid that if I invite him here, he'd be an even bigger wreck than when he decided to stay on Arcade Island. I think we should give him some more time to recollect himself before popping the question." He walked to the window and looked outside, seeing a parade of Arcade immigrants marching along the streets carting anti-Atari signs, demands to raise the defenses of the city and rid it of all the bad games trying to steal their jobs. Pauline soon appeared, looking out the same window.

"You're probably right," she said, "Luigi is having a hard time trying to adjust to the overcrowding Island he was supposed to grow to like. Bringing him here with this going on would only make things worse for him. I hope that when he does decide to cross over here, the Island would be under control and less stressful for him to deal with."

- - -

Several miles from the two Islands, an ancient Island, in the form of an Apple II Computer, began to drift towards them. For many years, the Island had existed as a giant, floating piece of rock inhabited by common creatures with more intelligence than those of Console and Arcade Island. Because of their high intelligence, they had never shown themselves to any of the other gaming Islands until this moment.

In the tower of Computer Island, three intellectual pixels, looking like college graduates, studied the conditions of the Islands that were meant to populate the World of Gaming. One was getting too crowded with no chances of expanding their living conditions. The other was being polluted with bad games stealing the jobs of those who knew more than what they were designed to do. On that same Island, a protest of Arcade Immigrants began to march along the streets, demanding that someone get off their lazy duffs to try and raise protection within the city.

"That is just deplorable." One of the pixels said.

"Indeed." Said the second.

"We leave gaming pixels alone for many years and this is what they have been reduced to?" asked the third, then looked at its pixilated colleagues, "We should have stopped the increase of gaming pixels the minute we were separated from the Island. Now I fear that it is too late."

"Indeed," said the second, "the Humans that fuel our existence with their love for technology are slowly starting to turn away from us. If this keeps up, our world will come to an end."

"We cannot let that happen," said the first, "In order to keep the world thriving, we have no choice but to annihilate the inhabitants of both Islands."

"That does not seem logical," said the third, "We do not have enough power to annihilate the inhabitants of Arcade and Console Island. Like them, we, too, are running on low power. It is best that we stay back and see what happens next. Maybe what the Arcade immigrants are doing will clean up the mistakes those of Console Island have failed to fix."

"I do believe we have little choice but to agree and monitor the process. Perhaps we can avoid casualties if we see how this protest will change those responsible for monitoring this Island."

- - -

The immigrants of Arcade Island flooded around the building that controlled the city of Atari2600. Screams, shouting, ranting and arms flying up and down were heard from inside, but the pixilated people working within the building paid no heed to their demands.

A podium appeared in the front of the crowd and Pac-Man soon appeared behind it, adjusting the microphone until it was level with his mouth.

"Come on out, you retarded, one-bit hacks!" Pac-Man yelled, "We weren't invited to this Island to be killed by your poorly developed asteroids! If you plan on keeping us here, you had better cough up the money to buy enough materials to build a force field to protect us from whatever comes out of the sky!"

Back in Mario's house, he and Pauline sat on the couch in front of the TV in the middle of the living room. On their screen was a poorly drawn sprite form of the flood of Arcade immigrants standing in front of the control building with arms and signs flying up and down in the air. DK Jr. did a balancing act on a small, DK labeled barrel behind the arm chair next to the couch, unaware of what was happening around him.

"Yes, you heard it here, folks!" said the monotone voice of a 2-bit, male reporter almost plastered to the screen of the TV, "The Arcade Immigrants are protesting in front of the building that is monitoring the welfare of our city. We of Atari2600 have been waiting for years to finally have protection, but even our demands are not reaching the mayors of this city. Can the Arcade immigrants change their minds before we run out of government money to repair the damage caused by falling asteroids and flying missiles."

"I'm worried, Mario," Pauline said, "Donkey Kong is out in that crowd somewhere. Do you think he'll do something that will cause more problems for us than what we have already?"

"I hope not..." Mario muttered. He then blinks before leaning forward, pointing to the TV, "Look! There he is!" Pauline looks in the direction of his finger and gasps when she sees what looked like Donkey Kong's one-bit, brown and badly drawn sprite appear on one of the 2-bit palm trees surrounding the Atari2600 building with a basket of rotten eggs in his giant hand. He began roaring, grabbing a hand full of eggs and throwing them at the windows of the building.

"One of Arcade Island's biggest inspiration, Donkey Kong is throwing rotten eggs at the Atari2600 building," the reporter said, "I don't think intimidating them is going to help make this Island any safer than we were hoping for."

"I hope Donkey Kong knows what he's doing," Pauline muttered.

The background suddenly turned black as a yellow, rotating saucer appeared from the sky. The Arcade immigrants stopped protesting and turn their heads upward. A cannon formed at the bottom of the pixel and began shooting everywhere. The immigrants screamed and scattered, avoiding the blasts while some that were hit flashed and faded.

Pauline threw her hands over her mouth at the sight that was going on through Mario's TV. Mario frowns slightly and grits his teeth as the pixilated carnage continued to increase.

"That's...that's just horrible!" Pauline cried.

"The mayors of Atari2600 either don't care what happens to his people," Mario said, "Or doesn't realize why they've formed a protest. It was any wonder why no one in this city wanted to do something about this problem."

One of the beams coming out of the saucer hit Donkey Kong and the 2-bit palm tree he clung to. Mario and Pauline's eyes widened as they watch their friendly rival drop from the tree and fall towards the scattering crowd, his brown, blocky appearance flashing slowly, then fast until he vanished.

"NO!" Pauline screamed, then looked at Mario, "Mario! We've gotta do something!"

"I know," Mario said, "But what? We try to protest with them and we'll be shot full of depixelating holes." He tightened his frown and looked at DK Jr., obviously still unaware of what was going on.

Pauline saw Mario leap off the couch, run up to DK Jr. and yank him off his plastic barrel, "What're you doing?"

"Sending him back to Arcade Island," Mario said, "Hopefully Luigi isn't too busy with his jobs to keep an eye on him until everything is under control." Before Pauline could stop him, he ran for the door.

- - -

The firing ceased. Pac-Man sat up from his position behind the podium as he looked at the gaps of depixelated craters caused by the saucers destruction. He growls with anger and turns back to the building.

"Alright, that does it!" he yelled, "Whoever's in charge of that building obviously doesn't care what happens to those who make a living on this Island! If you don't stop acting like we're inanimate objects with infinite lives, we're going to break into that fortress and tear it apart until you change your attitude and learn to respect us!" he turned to the other Arcade immigrants, "Let's go people. Take no prisoners!" everyone let out a battlecry as they charged for the Atari2600 building.

Block-like, faceless humans of different colors working within the building saw the doors and walls bust open as a flood of Arcade immigrants charged for them with weapons and objects in each hand. Two of the humans ran for the doors with "Kaboom" and "Crackpot" written above it. A crook sprite and a blocky human wearing a black shirt appeared on the ten foot gap over the doors and began throwing bomb and flowerpot sprites onto the flooding immigrants. Some were hit with bombs and disintegrated into graph-like bodies before they faded away. Others were hit by crackpots and fell to the floor, dazed before they were either trampled by others or destroyed by bombs.

From outside the building, every sidewalk of every city on Console Island opened up as blocky termites came out of them and began crawling up the walls and into windows and doors. People inside the buildings screamed as their furniture and appliances were devoured before the frames the termites chewed on gave way and brought the buildings down.

- - -

"Out of service?" Mario yelled, "You weren't 'out of service' when I came through the door!" he slapped the counter, "Listen, buster. This Island has gone completely loco! If I can't get off this volcano waiting to erupt, at least get him outta here!" he adds by plopping DK Jr. on the counter in front of the yellow, block-like, human pixel.

"Out of service," the pixel said in a monotone voice, "If the conveyor belt does not move at 180mph, the luggage will not fly and passengers will not be able to catch them. Therefore, this airline is out of service until the problem will be fixed."

"Move at...?" Mario just about leapt onto the counter and grabbed the pixel by its throat, "I don't have time to play 'Lost Luggage'! This is an emergency! Can't you, for once, do what I ask instead of following the instructions you were born with?"

"Error. Player has not picked difficulty level and pressed reset button. Unable to comply."

"I'm not asking you to set me up with a game! I'm asking you to open an airline and get one of us out of..."

"Error. Player has not picked difficulty level and pressed reset button. Unable to comply."

"Oh, for the love of...!" Mario pulled DK Jr. off the counter and stormed out of the station.

- - -

Pauline sat in the kitchen, resting her folded hands on the duct taped table, looking at the thumbs twiddling around as if they were playing leapfrog on a treadmill. Mario had been gone for over an hour and watching the continuing carnage on the news didn't help ease her worry. Why would the mayors of Atari2600 try to commute with Arcade Island if they knew something like this was going to happen? Were they even thinking that some video game characters had a mind of their own when they came up with the idea? Her thoughts were cut off when she felt slight tremors in the floor that increased with each passing minute.

She gets up and looks around, seeing some of the unbolted materials move around from the minor earthquake. Some lost their foothold, fell to the floor and shattered into millions of pixilated shards. The wood planks holding the floor together slowly began to bulge and crack as blocky, bug-like legs began wiggling through them. Pauline screamed when the bulges turned into holes, allowing the termites to crawl out of them as they scurried around the house, eating anything they could get their fangs on.

- - -

Mario stormed out of the station with DK Jr. hanging off his back. After walking a couple of feet, he stopped in front of a green, blocky pillar that stood a foot taller than him. He growled and kicked it, creating a hollow banging sound. He blinks as the sound echoed slightly before he climbs onto the pillar to see a black circle in the center.

"I thought that pillar looked familiar," he mumbled, "Maybe this badly made pipe is some kind of path back to Arcade Island."

Mario jumps into the pipe and lands on a sewer walkway separating the wall from the deep, weak flowing river moving throughout the underground, dingy tunnel. There was a sign that pointed in two directions. The left lead deeper into Console Island, the right seemed to be leading to an underground passageway back to Arcade Island. Mario looks at DK Jr. and lowers him off his back.

"Okay, DK, listen to me," he said, "This Island is getting out of control. I don't want you getting caught in the crossfire, so I want you to go that way," he adds by pointing behind DK Jr., "I'll head back to the city and find Pauline. If I don't make it back in time, make sure you don't give Luigi too much trouble." DK Jr. cocks his head to the side as if he didn't understand, but turns around and runs off down the sewer pathway. Mario watched him until he was gone, then runs the opposite direction.

- - -

The lid in the center of the sidewalk flipped open as Mario emerged from the sewer hole to a ruined city.

"What...what the...?" he muttered. He saw a flood of termites emerge from the crumbled buildings and return to the holes that let them out. He then saw what was left of his and Pauline's house reduced to a pile of concrete and wood, "Oh...oh no...!" he leapt out of the sewer hole and bolted towards the house, digging through the rubble until he saw small, multi-colored blocks floating up from the spaces between the planks. His heart racing, Mario threw more planks off, reached in and pulled Pauline out. What little feature was left in her graph-like body began to fade as each pixel broke off and floated into the sky until it disappeared.

Pauline's eyelids fluttered and slowly opened, revealing her glazed, blue eyes focusing on Mario's shocked and terrified appearance.

"M...Mario..." she muttered, reaching out and resting her depixelating hand on his cheek.

"Pauline..." Mario nearly choked, "I'm sorry. I didn't expect this to happen. I should've brought you with me!"

"Don't...don't worry...Mario. No one...expects stuff to happen... At least...at least I was able to see you...one last time..."

"No...Pauline! Don't say stuff like that! I'll get you back to Arcade Island and we'll find some help! Just hang on!" Pauline smiled as the rest of her features vanished from her body, causing it to slowly fade. Mario's eyes widened as he felt the weight lifting off his arms. His hands trembled and clenched, "No...this wasn't supposed to end like this!" he reached into his overalls and pulled out his black box, opening it up to reveal the proposal ring inside, "We...we were supposed to get married!" he began to trail off as the lump in his throat increased, "And...and live a happy life in a land without controversy...just you, me, Luigi and the Kongs..." Mario lowered his head as he increases his grip on the black box, tears streaming down his face. He soon lifts his head, rage burning in his eyes as he walks away from the destruction.

- - -

The hallways of the Atari2600 building became filled with battered, wounded, and slowly dying Arcade Immigrants. The human pixels looked down at their accomplished work, about to pick one of the characters up when the glass door shattered. The sprites looked up to see Mario walk through the busted glass, blinded by rage. Because of their lack of personalities, none of the sprites paid any heed to the angry plumber and proceeded to walk towards him.

Mario didn't seem fazed by the sudden oncoming of the pixilated humans. Without realizing it (or paying any attention to his actions), the red plumber conjured up a ball of fire and hurled it at the pixels. They stopped, a bit surprised by this sudden ability, but didn't have time to react when the ball smashed into the ceiling and brought a chunk of it crashing onto their heads. Mario walked past the pile and continued through the building's maze until he reached the top of the tower.

There was a sign on the double doors that read "Office of Mayors: Program Pixels Only". But Mario was too raged and upset to read the sign and kicks the doors open. Upon entry, he saw a blocky, green creature sitting in the center of a capsule with screens floating around it, showing picture after picture of the destruction going on outside. When the creature heard the door fly open, it turns around to a point where Mario could see the creature completely.

It was revealed as a green, E.T. like sprite with stumpy arms and a transparent eyehole. When it saw Mario, it extended its neck and screamed in a mixture of long beeps and noises. Almost immediately, pixel bombs began to rain in the room, exploding with each drop and creating a pixel-like dust cloud that covered the entire room. Once the dust cleared, Mario was found flat on his stomach with bits of pixels leaving his body. The E.T. look-a-like lowered its neck and was about to turn around when it saw him twitch.

Mario groaned as he tried to push himself back onto his feet. E.T. extended its neck again and screamed, summoning a hoard of flying demon sprites that circled around him while shooting beams in scattered lines on the ground. Once the dust cleared, Mario was back on his stomach with even more pixels leaving his badly damaged body.

"N...No..." Mario growled as he tried to get up again, "I...I won't let you do this... You...you've already caused enough trouble to...to everyone who trusted you... I...I gotta put a stop to this..." E.T. lowered its neck, looking at him like it didn't have the facial expressions to show whether it was frustrated or uncaring about its actions. The red plumber raised his slowly disintegrating arm as a fireball formed on the palm of his hand and lobbed it at the capsule. The badly drawn extra-terrestrial extended its neck again and screamed just before the ball smashed through the holographic capsule and blew it to millions of disintegrating blocks.

The whole building began to shake as random explosions rained on the ceiling and walls. Mario watched as balls of fire popped out of each wall, bring a chunk of concrete and bricks to the ground. He focused on the capsule as it began to fill with blue sparks, slowly backing away from it, his eyes turning from mourning rage to fear and worry. Suddenly, the sparks jumped out of the capsule and surrounded him, causing him to scream in pain as the surges increased.

The blue sparks crawled out of the building, causing it to slowly crumble. The sparks then began spreading throughout the Island, destroying everything in sight. Console inhabitants that were caught by the sparks flashed in a variety of blue and white before they faded away. As more of the Island became infected with the blue sparks, the landscape slowly began to turn chard black as its overhead structure of the Atari joystick slowly began to crumple into a black, humungous, floating pile of rocks.

- - -

Dawn rose to an Island of crumbled and deserted cities. Three shadows floated towards the ruins of the Atari2600 building where destruction took its first group of victims. As they passed through the destruction, many of the Arcade Immigrants who survived the explosion of Console Island lay scattered beneath them, slowly losing bits of their features as a graph-like body appeared beneath it. They soon stopped and circled their last survivor, then turned into humanoid shadows.

"It is sad," said the first shadow, "The former mayors of Console Island wanted to merge their Islands with Arcade Island. When the new mayors took over, everything turned into a disaster."

"Indeed," said the second, "If we had been there sooner, none of this would have happened. However, with our help, we can recreate this Island back to the way it was before all this happened."

"I do not see the point," said the third, "the inhabitants of earth have already lost interest in video games. There would be no point in wasting Computer Island's powers on those who have no chance of surviving."

"Perhaps if we tried to preserve them and revert this Island to that of pre-historic earth," said the first, "it will take less power and, when the humans start to show interest in video games, those destined to lead Console Island would be easy to release."

"Yes, I do believe you are right," said the second, "Our Island may be outliving this Island, but even though video games are slowly dying in this world, there might still be some people who wish them to still thrive."

The three joined hands as they turned from humanoid shadows into a small, black dome that grew in size and consumed the entire Island. The once blue sky soon turned pitch black. Those of Arcade Island didn't know what was going on. Some had noticed the black dome that was giving off the mysterious clouds and wondered what could have happened over there that stripped the world of its sunlight.

OOC: The E.T. game was actually the one responsible for turning many gamers away, which brought about the crash of '83. I had a bit of a problem trying to end Console Island's life at the hands of this deplorable and confusing game (If I had a better idea, I'd probably come back and edit this chapter anyway).

Next Chapter: A year goes by and the situation involving the dark clouds is getting worse. Two sprites from an Ice Climber game accidentally releases what some would call "a great evil". Now banished from their clan, the two had to rely on a perverted Topi and his one-track minded partner as they try to help a lost sprite find her role in life. The adventure is cut short when the true evil presents itself and attempts to wipe out the slowly dying Island. With no one strong enough to handle this devastating monster, how will anyone expect to save Arcade Island from extinction?


	3. Death and Resurrection Chapter 3

Author's Note: A bit of a history lesson for those thinking that Ice Climber was a Console-only game. It's not. It was part of Nintendo's new Vs. Arcade System back in '84 (Called "Vs. Ice Climber"). I was almost lead to believe that Ice Climber came out first in home consoles before they hit the arcades along with Vs. Super Mario Bros. After doing some research, I realized that they did come out in the Arcades first, saving me the hastle of looking for an alternative to this chapter.

This chapter isn't totally revolving around the Ice Climber, mind you. I'm sticking as close to history as I possibly can (I just happen to be an Ice Climber fan and had the urge to use them in this chapter).

3 – Good or Evil

As the days went on, the effects of the dark clouds covering the sky seemed to be getting worse. More than a third of the Arcade population was rushed to the hospital, blinded by pain and a burning sensation coursing through their bodies. With more and more victims succumbing to the unsolved disease, new additions to Arcade Island began to fear for their lives.

The Mayors of the Island began pointing towards Console Island where the source of the clouds appears to be coming from. Angered by their beliefs, they deleted all routes to Console Island and erased all memory from transporting pixels. Anyone trying to move back to Arcade Island from Console Island was sent to the bottom of the planet on a deserted, endlessly stormy boulder called Exile Island. This brought new fear to the inhabitants of Arcade Island. Fear that if they were really Console immigrants, the Mayors would find out and ship them to Exile Island where they await their deletion while wandering around like mindless sprites in the pouring, cold rain with no memories of their lives except what were given to them through instruction manuals. Unknown to them, the worst is yet to come...

- - -

Luigi opened his mailbox to find it empty for the tenth time. It had been a week since the skies turned dark and Mario hadn't responded to him since. Luigi tried to reply back with questions on what was going on, but his letters keep getting sent back to him with the words "Return to Sender. Address: Unknown" stamped on the back of the envelope. Whatever happened on Console Island had somehow brainwashed the mailing sprites to only remember sending letters to those of Arcade Island.

Depressed, the green plumber slunk back into his house. There, he found DK Jr. playing "Mario Bros." on a module of the Atari2600 system connected to the ColecoVision. The joy plastered on his face made Luigi a bit jealous.

"Why are you still playing that?" he nearly blurted, getting the little ape's attention, "I don't care if it has good controls! That game is revolting!" he quickly shuts the 2600 off, yanks the game from its slot and replaces it with "Fast Food", "Here. Play this instead." DK Jr. watched him walk out of the living room, shrugs, then starts playing.

Luigi walked into his bedroom, flops on the bottom bunk, picks up the remote and turns on the 12" TV sitting beside the bottom bed frame. The screen showed an 8-bit city with a black background. There weren't even any vector-drawn asteroids flying around with a vector-drawn spaceship shooting at them or aliens moving back and forth, waiting to be shot by another spaceship.

"Yes, is another sunnyless day outside Arcade Island," said a monotone, one-bit, orange cat reporter, "And it's about to get worse. We are getting reports of a mysterious plague that is infecting our Island. So far, 16 inhabitants of Arcade Island were rushed to the hospital with uncontrolled illness and blindness. Scientists speculate it has something to do with the black clouds covering our sky. We advise that you..." Luigi, not paying attention to the news, points the remote at the TV screen and presses a button, switching stations.

"And welcome to another round of 'Warrior'!" A different, monotone voice yelled, "Rates this week have been a little down due to the lack of players in the Arcades, so let's hope this is a good one!" Luigi frowns and shuts the TV off, then sighs and drops his head on the pillow, staring at the mattress over him. He missed hearing Mario snore at night and DK Jr. kept him up half the time.

Luigi sighed again and turned to his side, staring at the white flower sitting in a glass, fast asleep. A white mustache began to grow on its nectar-powdered face. He found it weird that a flower such as the one given to him for his birthday would actually look like its aging as the days went by. Most people outside his family found it even weirder than he'd consider the flower his friend and would never leave the house without it sticking out of his hat.

As he continued to stare at the flower, Luigi began having thoughts about what would happen if he had lost the last person who cared about him. He can't stop worrying about what might have happened to Mario and Pauline on Console Island and he can't figure out how to reach them to find out if everything was okay. And now that the flower was slowly starting to age a year after getting it, Luigi felt that he was soon going to lose his last grip with life.

Luigi shook his head and turned onto his back, staring at the mattress again. He tried not to think about what might happen in the future and the terrible things that happened on Console Island. As he waited for sleep to overcome him, he heard the sound of the game DK Jr. was playing outside his room and pondered whether he should drag him to bed for the night. Remembering what happened last night, Luigi decided not to bother destroying his room with a rambunctious ape and slowly drifted off to sleep.

- - -

"I can't believe you got us lost again!" Popo said as he ran through the snowy pathways of Icicle Mountain.

"I said I'm sorry," Nana complained, "It's not like those condors are flying around with texture maps under their claws." She came to a screeching halt and turned around, "Wait. Is that it?" Popo stops and looks in her direction to see a blocky version of the mountain levels, only with a gold-like texture.

"Not like any I've ever seen. It looks like one of those knock-off arcade simulators the elder of the Vegetable Clan told us about. But there hasn't been any knock-offs since the invasion of the Clone Kongs in '81."

"Well, maybe we'll be catching the same condor on this mountain."

The mountain level was surprisingly vacant as the Ice Climbers scaled it. None of the Topis came out to try to repair the platforms they broke and none of the polar bears appeared to smash the mountain into a vortex that either took them out of the simulation for the duration of the game or sent them back up with one life taken away. The only thing threatening their excavation were the stalactites forming and falling off the ceiling. This almost seemed...boring.

"Whoever made this knock-off really doesn't have any skill in game design," Popo said as he poked one of the slowly reforming stalactites with his ice hammer.

"No wonder no one plays this game," Nana said, "It's a miracle this thing is still up."

"Yeah, well let's hope the bonus stage is a little more challenging than this."

The two continued to climb the mountain until they saw their ice hammers vanish from their hands. They looked around to see a bunch of yellow, star-shaped, tin boxes laying on certain platforms, but no starry background.

"This is the bonus stage?" Nana asked, "Where's the timer?"

Popo jumped on one of the platforms and picked up one of the tin star boxes, seeing a bright, multi-colored glow emitting from it.

"Maybe it has something to do with these boxes," he said.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, maybe these stars are worth 1000 points. And whoever gets the most by the time this game is over gets a handful of tickets." Nana looked at him like he was crazy.

"Where were you last night, Chuck E. Cheese?" she asked rhetorically, then turns around, "Come on, let's get this level over and done with before I get bored and leave you behind."

They climbed through the bonus level, picking up four rainbow glowing, star-shaped boxes along the way, until they reached the top of the mountain. But instead of a condor flying back and forth, there was a steeper, icy incline with a shadow stuck in the middle of it that looked like a woman curled up in a fetal position.

"This isn't much of a level, is it?" Popo asked.

"Yeah," Nana said, "Maybe some of the humans who lost interest in video games made this knock-off in order to destroy what little interest is left in the gamers on earth." The two continued to stare at the curled up silhouette incased in the giant ice stalagmite.

"What do we do now? Just touch it?" Popo asked, placing his hand on the surface of the stalagmite and resting on it. As if saying the magic words, the entire incline vanished, almost sending him falling towards the pit they climbed out of before Nana grabbed him by the tail end of his snow parka. While they struggled to pull each other back onto solid ground, the entire top of the mountain turned a mixture of different colors. Both looked up to see the woman slowly uncurl and glow a bright white as she rose from the sky and disappeared into the clouds a second before they found themselves back at the bottom of the summit, watching it fade into nothing.

- - -

The woman flew towards Console Island where she came to a screeching halt. A tornado of dark clouds rose out of the center of the Island and was increasing the length of the already darkened sky. She flew closer to the source, seeing a temple slowly form around it. Rows of crystals leaned against the walls, each with its own shadow.

A giant crystal stood in the center of the temple as it was being developed. The woman flew closer to the crystal to see a shadow stuck near the bottom of it. The cyclone of dark clouds seemed to be surrounding the crystal as though it were trying to destroy the only thing that seperates night from day. She could feel as though he were familiar to her somehow, like she was destined to save him. She reached out and touched the crystal surface only to yank it back as black sparks flew around it.

Feeling hopeless, she turned and flew out of the temple, but stops upon seeing some leaves rustling in a bush. A mushroom with eyes was inside the bush, shivering with fear. The woman reached down and took it out, seeing it look at her as though it knew her. She believed that the mushroom was meant to be hers, but it was still unclear as to her objective in life. She shook her head and flew back to Arcade Island.

- - -

The Ice Climbers returned to their Ice Cave deep in Icicle Mountain. Three caves divide the slowly dwindling population into three different clans: the Minion Clan, the Vegetable Clan, and the Ice Climber Clan. The clans still mingle with one another like the rest of Arcade Island, but because of housing disputes, they refused to share a room with one another.

Nana and Popo walked into the center cave where a village full of men and women wearing different colored snow garbs walked along the igloo-like buildings like normal people, except everyone, even the infants, had an ice hammer resting on their shoulders.

"We're home," the two said as they walked through the doors of a normal igloo on the outskirts of the village.

"Home already," the elder asked, looking up from his newspaper, "You didn't get lost in Mountain 28 again, did you?" Nana and Popo looked at each other, muffling a groan. The elder chuckled and shook his head, turning around and heading for the kitchen, "Nevermind. Either way, you must've been hungry from your bout in the Ice Climber simulation. I'll have lunch ready in a minute."

- - -

The woman returned to Arcade Island with the mushroom in her arms. Her role in life was still unclear. If the Mayors didn't like her, why did they create her in the first place? Was she some kind of failed program that was too good to delete? She felt she shouldn't exist if she was a burden to everyone who saw her, but for some reason, she wanted to look for clues to her existence. Clues that might tell her why she should still live.

She saw a house sandwiched between two apartment complexes that was giving off a more familiar feeling. Curious, she flew in closer to the window to see what was going on.

Luigi had turned onto his stomach, sound asleep. The sprite could see some sorrow on his face as though he was having nightmares. She felt as though he was familiar somehow. What does he and the shadow she saw on Console Island have in common and why does she feel as though she should be with them?

- - -

"Dead vegetables! Get your dead vegetables!" A black-garbed Ice Climber called out as he waved a bell up and down while carting a wagon full of eggplants, carrots, cabbages and corn with "x" for eyes. Nana and Popo looked out the window of their igloo, then ran out over to the cart.

"We'll take the carrots and corn from Death Row." Popo said.

"200 points each," the Ice Climber said, "And no haggling this time. These Death Row vegetables aren't common, you know." Popo reached into his pocket and tossed two gold, P-printed coins towards him as he grabbed them and stuffed them in his pocket.

"I wish there were some fish on the market," Nana said as she took two carrots and corns, "I could really go for some sushi right about now."

"We'll have to wait a while," Popo said, "Our fishers haven't recovered from their fight with the polar bears over a giant swordfish. We're at least lucky to have enough points to buy margarine-filled vegetables. You know how much Gramps hates having to add butter to his own soup."

"Hey, you two have the Death Row carrots yet?" the elder called out, causing Popo and Nana to flinch, "I ain't got enough logs to keep the stove going, you know." The two looked at each other, then the sky.

"He really needs to get an electric stove," they muttered.

As they turned to the igloo, a scream echoed throughout the cave. The two turned to see black clouds oozing through the entrance and pouring through the village like a flood. Other Ice Climbers dropped everything but their ice hammers and scrabbled for the nearest shelter they could find.

"Come on, Popo!" Nana cried, pulling at her brother's arm, "We have to get inside before that thing gets us!" Popo turns to follow and catches a lone stroller and an infant laying inside, crying in fear. He yanks his arm loose and runs for the stroller, "Popo!"

Popo grabs the stroller and attempts to run with it when he trips over a rock frozen to the ground and lands on his face, knocking the stroller over.

"Say, what's all the racket out here?" the elder called out as he heads for the door, "Are you two trying to lower the price for Death Row carrots again?" he stepped outside to see the black clouds heading towards them.

"Gramps!" Nana cried as she ran for him. The clouds jumped into the sky like a tidal wave and landed for them only to come to a screeching halt. An agonizing scream could be heard as both Popo and Nana glowed a swirl of rainbow colors. In a split second, the flooding darkness vanished through the entrance it came through.

Ice Climbers poked their heads out of windows and doors to see if it was safe to come out. Most focused on Popo and Nana in fright and shock. Popo looked at the baby knocked from the stroller to see the mother rush up and grab it.

"You stay away from my baby, you demon!" she screamed as she backed away from Popo.

"Demon?" Popo asked. He saw the lights of the makeshift stars vanish around him and looked up to see another Ice Climber stooping over him with his ice hammer over his head. He yelped and dashed off just as the hammer slammed into the ground and stopped beside Nana.

"W-What's going on?" Nana muttered as the angry crowd began to close in on the three.

"You two!" the elder snapped, causing them to flinch, "Tell me you didn't go to the forbidden Mountain level in the Ice Climber simulation!"

"F-Forbidden?" Popo asked.

"But...I thought it was some uninspired knock-off simulator intent to drive more humans away from the arcade," Nana muttered. The elder sighed and shook his head.

"Didn't that story I tell you sink into your naïve little skulls?" he asked, "A year ago, our Island has suffered a great plague caused by the inhabitants of Console Island. The Mayors have shut down all routes to that Island to avoid any more contaminants from destroying our great land. But it appears Console Island hasn't had enough of our suffering, so they forged a white demoness to try and bring us more agony. This feminine monster was programmed with a virus that will turn whoever freed her into contaminating Console sprites. Many have tried to destroy the demoness only to have their programs rewritten, sentencing them to an eternity of lifeless game sprites on Exile Island. The Mayors only had the power to trap the demoness, so they sealed her behind an ice crystal on the top of one of our Mountains, believing that no one would ever find and climb it. But it appears they have made a grave mistake."

"Th-that woman was...?" Popo muttered.

"She...she didn't look evil..." Nana muttered.

"IMBECILE!" the elder snapped, stabbing the bottom of his 7ft ice hammer to the ground, "Don't you think that's what the Mayors of Console Island wanted you to think? They know we would fall for anything, so they tried to make the demoness innocent looking so we would feel sorry enough to free it. Be thankful if the Mayors of Arcade Island haven't found out what you did!" he sighed and lowered his head, "It pains me to do this, but since you have been rewritten into Console characters, I have no choice but to banish you from this clan."

"BANISH?" the two cried.

"You heard me. There's no point in being here if the programmers can't identify your biological data, therefore, you are nothing but corrupt viruses intent on spreading your disease to those who come in contact with you. I suggest you get going now before the Mayors find out and consider our entire clan to be Console Characters and delete us all." Nana and Popo turned around to see a gap form within the crowd of angry Ice Climbers. They looked at each other in worry and remorse, then morosely walked away, dragging their ice hammers behind them.

- - -

"Alright, son," said a voice, "Today, I will be teaching you the fine arts of villainy." Donkey Kong sat DK Jr. on his lap in the jungles of their home, "One of these days, I will be gone and you will have to carry on the Donkey Kong legacy. But, in order to be known as the next King Kong knock-off, you must make sure you catch a defenseless woman and haul her to the top of areas with ladders (the conveyor belts come later)." DK Jr. clapped his feet and leapt off Donkey Kong's lap.

An hour later, the baby gorilla sees Pauline washing some dishes in the kitchen of Mario and Luigi's house. He giggles and charges for her only to feel his baby suit jolt and yank him back.

"Trying to follow in your father's footsteps?" Mario asked as he watched DK Jr. struggle in his hand, "Sorry, DK. You'll have to be 10ft tall to outmatch me." He tossed DK Jr. behind him before heading into the kitchen, then pokes his head out to see him upside down on the couch with a frump on his face and his arms crossed, "Don't take it to hard. Maybe you should start with someone smaller than or equal to your size."

The bubble coming out of DK Jr.'s nose popped as he yanked his head up from his sitting position in front of the Atari-attached ColecoVision as the mouth sprite continued to open and close. The baby gorilla contemplated on the dream he had, crossing his arms and tilting his head left to right. Perhaps it is time to take his father's place since he hasn't returned for months. DK Jr. claps his hands and feet, jumps up and runs for the door.

- - -

In a hallway full of portals, Popo and Nana walked out with a wrinkled up ear of corn hobbling behind them, using a crooked staff for a walking stick. Nana looked out the window to see a flood of sprites walking the electrically lit streets of the city.

"Whoa," she yelped, "No wonder Gramps didn't want us going into the city."

"Ha! You would be lucky if the Mayors couldn't point you out from a bottle of clones," the corn said, "the Island's been so crowded since the betrayal of Console Island, the Mayors could barely keep up with the investigation of the mysterious clouds and the sudden illness of several sprites. You better make the most of this city while you can. Once the Mayors find out you two were turned into Console sprites, you'd be writing down your life story incase they decide to ship you to Exile Island." The sound of "Exile Island" made the two shudder in fear. The corn laughed and turned around, "Have a nice life, losers." With that, he walks back into the portal. The two groaned before walking out the portal building. Once outside, they almost thought they saw the size of the sprites wandering the streets grow ten-times larger than before.

"Oh man!" Nana groaned, "How're we going to get around this city without getting lost?" Popo was about to answer when a streak fell on top of and squashed him to the pavement on his stomach. Nana yelped in shock and stumbled back as DK Jr. stared at her before grinning from ear to ear.

Popo heard Nana scream and looked up to see DK Jr. haul her onto his shoulder, kicking and flailing her arms.

"Are you insane?" she yelled, "I'm not Pauline! Put me down!"

"Hey! What gives?" Popo growled. He grabbed his ice hammer and swung it towards DK Jr. only to see him jump off his back and land in front of him. The baby gorilla bounced from one foot to another, laughing, then turns around and runs off, "Come back here!" Popo jumped to his feet and ran after DK Jr. as random sprites yelped and jumped out of the way to avoid getting plowed to the ground.

DK Jr. stops in one of the allies and looks at the fire escape leading to the roof of an apartment complex. Popo showed up to see him climb the ladder, kicking it down after reaching the roof. He growled as he ran to the collapsible ladder near the barred stairs, stuck the handle of his ice hammer in his mouth and scurried up to the fire escape. DK Jr. bounced from one foot to another as the blue Ice Climber closed in on him before he jumped off the banister. Popo saw the baby gorilla dash across the granite covered roof to the next building and chased after him.

After several building jumps, the two eventually chased each other into a jungle similar to the first level of a Donkey Kong Jr. game. DK Jr. stops on the vine covered branch hanging over the moss-covered, tree-stump riddled lake and watches Popo stop near one of the tree stumps.

"Oh, come on! This is ridiculous!" he nearly wailed. He then groaned, jumped onto one of the vines and began climbing it.

DK Jr. stuck the tip of his index finger in his mouth as he looked at a stub-like projector in front of him with a label that read "Snapjaw hologram. Intend for villains only. Do not activate." DK Jr. grinned before he slammed his hand on the label, causing a snapjaw to appear in front of him and scurry for one of the vines.

Popo caught the snapjaw heading for him before jumping to the next vine, seeing it land on the ground and disappear. DK Jr. laughed while clapping his hands as more snapjaws appeared, scurrying down every vine they could find. Popo yelps as he jumps from vine to vine, barely avoiding the snapjaws pouring past him until he reached the near end of the branch. The blue Ice Climber sighed with relief until he felt a pair of jaws clamp down on his shoulder. He screams and shakes the snapjaw from his shoulder, then looks up to see a gang of them practically pile the vine over him.

"Um...nice gator heads?" he laughed nervously. The snapjaws suddenly dropped from the vine and engulfed him in their fangs until he grabs his ice hammer and swings it around wildly, "GET OFF, GET OFF, GET OFF!" The snapjaws pulled away from him and clambered back onto the vine, leaving him dangling in mid-air. The minute he realized where he was he dropped, screaming, into the lake below.

DK Jr. looked over the branch to see Popo splashing about, dazed and shocked, before he jumped onto one of the stumps. The blue Ice Climber stops and turns around to see him turn around, slapping his rump several times before running off deep into the jungle. Popo just about exploded with anger.

"That does it!" he yelled, throwing his arms into the air, "I'm going to bash your brains in with a sledgehammer when I get my hands on you!"

- - -

"EEEEEEEEEEEEK! GET OUT OF HERE, YOU PERVERT!" screamed a feminine voice. Topi and a polar bear wearing sunglasses and pink shorts ran out of the apartment complex with a bag full of lingerie and jewelry. A dog-headed sprite rushed out after the two, barking and drooling pixel blocks.

"I told you we shouldn't have masturbated the B-cup and G-string thongs!" the polar bear cried.

"Golly gee! How was I supposed to know those Mouse Trap characters still existed on this Island?" Topi yelled.

They turned and ran into an ally where the mushroom from Console Island had suddenly appeared. The two screamed while trying to come to a screeching halt only to slam into it and get flung halfway across the ally. The dog-headed sprite leaps onto them, mangles them in a mess of clouds and popping heads, then walks away with both bags while leaving its victims in a chewed up mess.

"Topi, why do I hurt when dogs bite me?" the polar bear asked in a daze.

"Oh, why do I have to tell you these things...?" Topi grumbled.

"Oh my, are you two alright?" asked a feminine voice. Topi looked up to see the sprite stooping over them with a worried look on her face. Heart-shaped pupils shot out of his eye sockets followed by an old horn sound.

"I will be," he slurred, love-struck and drooling, "If you tell me where you live, my bodacious cutey-pie." The sprite cocked her head to one side before scratching her chin.

"I...I don't know. I could be living anywhere on this planet."

"What?" Topi wiggled out of the polar bear and jumped onto his back, "You mean you don't even remember who you are?"

"Am I supposed to?"

"Duh," Topi tapped the side of his head, "You're supposed to remember the minute you first wake up. Even my one-track-minded partner here knows what his purpose was supposed to be...long before we got kicked off Icicle Mountain." The sprite placed both hands on her chest and looked away a bit.

"I...I wouldn't know," she said, "I only remember waking up in the rubble of a crumbled building. Up until now, I couldn't figure out what my purpose is. I know I was supposed to be with two brothers."

"Two brothers?" Topi asked, "You mean like the Mario Bros.?"

"Do...do you know them?"

"Not personally. We've only seen them in the Arcade station on Icicle Mountain." The sprite placed a hand on her mouth.

"Mario Bros." she muttered, "That name makes me think of that man in green overalls from last night. Maybe if I stuck around him a little longer, I might finally regain these lost memories." She lowered her eyes a bit, "But...how will I be able to do that? I doubt he's met me like this before." Topi placed a hand under his beak and stroked it until a light bulb appeared on his head. He grabbed the polar bear's arm.

"Uno memento, my dear," he said. He dragged the polar bear far enough so both sprites couldn't hear them, "Hee-hee! This is the moment I've been waiting for, P.B.! We'll get that sprite to turn us into that low-life's family members. Fame and fortune, here I come!"

"But Topi," P.B. muttered, "Making that poor, lost sprite do what we want is rude and wrong."

"Of course it is, stupid. We're the bad guys, remember?" Topi grabbed P.B. by the arm and dragged him back to the sprite, "Alright, here's the deal. You're an incomplete sprite, right? I hear they can turn anything person they touch into whatever living creature is on their minds. So, you can use that mysterious power of yours to turn ourselves into characters from a Donkey Kong game. Everything else is a walk in the park." The sprite looked at her hands.

"Well..." she muttered, "It's worth a try." She placed one hand on Topi's head, and the other on P.B.'s head and closed her eyes. At first, nothing happened. Then a circle appeared around the quads as rainbow beams shot up in various areas. A shadow of Mario appeared around Topi while a shadow of Donkey Kong appeared around P.B. and a shadow of Pauline appeared around the sprite.

Wasting no time, Topi rushed out of the ally and stopped at the window of an appliance store with a row of TVs stacked against the window, all showing the activity going on in the streets in the form of 8-bit pixels. In place of where he stood was Mario's 8-bit structure. He posed several times before placing a hand on his chin.

"I am too sexy for this bod." He said, slyly. P.B., the mushroom and the sprite soon appeared, looking at their reflections in the TV cameras.

"Wow! Look'it me!" P.B. said, flexing his ape-like muscles, "I look strong!"

"Now we have to find the man I saw last night and see if he knows what my purpose is." The sprite said, "You wouldn't happen to know where he lives, do you?" Topi flinches.

"Um...well..."

"This isn't funny!" cried a voice, "You better put me down this minute before I club you with something far worse than a 2x4!" a teardrop came out of Topi's head.

"That voice...it can't be..."

DK Jr. leapt onto P.B.'s back, bouncing from one foot to another while laughing like a giddy child before dropping Nana into his arms.

"You're not getting away from me this time!" yelled another voice. P.B. felt DK Jr. jump off his back and turns to see Popo jump towards him with his ice hammer over his head. The polar bear turned gorilla screamed a girl-like scream before the hammer squashed him to the ground, holding Nana in the air.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! IT'S THOSE TATTLETAILING ICE CLIMBERS!" Topi screamed, throwing both hands on his cheeks. Popo glared at him as he ran back and forth in a panic.

"Excuse me?" he growled.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! THIS DOESN'T ADD UP! ICE CLIMBERS AREN'T SUPPOSED TO ENTER THE CITY UNLESS THEY WERE SUFFERING A FOOD SHORTAGE! WE'RE DOOMED! IF THEY FIND OUT WHAT WE'RE UP TO, OUR PLAN'S SUNK!" Topi immediately stops, "Wait! What am I thinking? They don't know who we really are! We can still make it through!" he began tip-toeing towards the sprite, "Quick, while they're confused, we could..." Popo grabbed him by his scraggy hair.

"Hold it right there, fuzzball!" he jumped on Topi's head and stretched his face out as he screamed in pain, "WHAT DO YOU THINK WE ARE, STUPID? I ATTA...!"

"Um...bro..." Nana muttered, getting the blue Ice Climber's attention, "Before you rip the marbles out of his madness, you might want to take a look at the TV screens." She adds by pointing to the window of the appliance store. Popo looks beside him to see his 8-bit picture clung to Mario's stretched out head with Donkey Kong on the ground, holding Nana over his head.

Topi shoved Popo off his head and yanked his head to the side, huffing.

"The nerves," he said, "Picking on a clueless guy such as myself. Your sister has more sympathy for me than you do."

"Watch it buster," Nana said, tapping the handle of her ice hammer against her hand, "I still haven't forgotten the time you tried to steal my favorite 'Robotron' underwear." Topi dropped to his hands and knees as a shadow of depression fell over him.

"Meanies! I try to return the gesture and you're throwing it in my face like it was an insult!" he muttered. Both Ice Climbers flipped him off.

"So says the Topi who got his and his equally perverted pet's butt kicked off the mountain for raiding every last lingerie in the Ice Climber Clan!" they yelled.

"Oh...oh no..." the sprite muttered, covering her mouth, "I don't understand. I was sure my power would make everyone on this Island think we're someone else. Did I do something wrong?"

As if to answer her question, a black car comes to a screeching halt near the group. Everyone turned to see a chubby woman with black hair tied up in a bun, wearing a black, strapless dress and black, high-heel shoots step out of the car. She took one look at Topi and gasped.

"Why! Yes it is!" immediately, she yanks Topi off the ground, knocking Popo off his head and squeezes him in her arms, "Oh, Mario! I thought you were deleted!"

"Oof!" Topi grunts, "Um...hi...you..."

"Oh...it's been so long. Don't tell me you forgot your dear ol' Mama Mario."

"Mama...Mario...?" both Ice Climbers muttered in shock. Mama Mario looks up from her "son" to the others who stared back at her in shock. She immediately drops him, throws her hands behind her back and almost stoops over him.

"Well?" she asked, "Aren't you going to introduce me to your new friends?"

"F-Friends?" Topi just about blurted out loud as he propped himself on his hands, "They aren't...!" he was interrupted when DK Jr. suddenly bounces on his back and lands in Mama Mario's arms with Nana struggling in his hands.

"DK!" she squealed as she hugged and rocked the baby gorilla back and forth, "It's so good to see you again." DK Jr. giggled while bouncing Nana up and down by the back of her neck.

"Will you cut that out?" she growled, "I'm not a freakin' rag doll, you know!"

"Oh, how cute! You're finally following in your father's footsteps!" Mama Mario continued to hug and rock DK Jr., "I'm so proud of you! Your father has taught you well!"

Nana crosses her arms and frumps, "Oh no. I'm just a common damsel in distress who carries a hammer as an accessory item. Thanks for asking!"

Mama Mario looks at everyone else, "I know what we should do. Since I'm heading over to my younger son for a visit, why don't you all come with me? He'll be so surprised when he finds out you all made it back here in one piece!" DK Jr. drops Nana and threw his arms into the air, grunting with joy.

"Um...well..." the sprite muttered before Topi jumped to his feet.

"Yes! Yes! A visit will be great!" he said, "I miss my little brother so much, I had forgotten what he looked like!"

Meanwhile, the two Ice Climbers huddled a couple of inches from the group.

"Who's he kidding? I bet he hasn't even seen him at all." Popo muttered.

"Looks like we'll have to play along with them for a while," Nana muttered, "If we blow their cover in front of her, we'd probably be upsetting her more than if we had our butts handed over to the Mayors and shipped to Exile Island."

- - -

Luigi opens his mailbox again. Bills and contests he wasn't interested in entering, but no word from Mario or any of his other friends. Sighing, he closed his mailbox and turned to walk back to his house when he saw the black car pull up to his driveway.

The door opens as Mama Mario steps out with DK Jr. clung to her back. She looks at Luigi with a stern expression, then smiles warmly.

"It's good to see you, Luigi," she said. Luigi lit up, tears filling his eyes.

"MAMA MARIO!" he yelled as he ran up to her and threw his arms around her chubby body. She was a bit surprised, but smiles again and wraps her arms around him.

"When Mario and his friends stopped writing, I was worried that something happened to them," she pulls Luigi back, "But are you in for a surprise. You won't believe who I ran into along the way here." She turns to the car and waves her hand. The back doors opened as Mario, Pauline and Donkey Kong came out. Luigi's eyes widen in shock.

"N...No way!" Pauline smiled and bowed slightly.

"We're...we're sorry if we've worried you, Luigi," she said, softly.

"MARIO! PAULINE!" he yelled as he rushed over to the two and practically knocked them to the floor, hugging them.

- - -

Once inside the house, everyone told their side of the story. Luigi nods.

"Wow. It was that bad, huh?" he asked, "Well, now that you're safely at home, we can finally forget all the problems we've faced over the past year."

"Uh...yeah...forget..." Mario said, seeming a bit unsure of what Luigi was talking about.

Donkey Kong looked between Pauline and Mama Mario before looking at Nana, "Hey. Can I ask you something?" Nana turned around to see him place his hands on both females' boobs, "How come these two are wearing coconuts under their clothes?" Pauline blinked in confusion as Mama Mario just about glared at his hand. Nana snarled, gripping the handle of her ice hammer to the point of snapping it in half.

"GET YOUR FILTHY HANDS OFF THEIR BREASTS!" she screamed, smashing Donkey Kong to the floor with her ice hammer.

"My..." Mama Mario muttered, looking at the hammering Mario sprites dancing around the bump on Donkey Kong's head, "That's quite a fighter you picked up, little DK." DK Jr. giggles and claps his hands.

"Funny..." Luigi muttered, "Donkey Kong's known Pauline longer than that. I wonder why he would ask something so unusual."

"Maybe...maybe he's hungry." Popo said, poking the bump. Luigi placed one hand on his side and the other under his chin, scratching it.

"You may have a point there. Donkey Kong does have a short attention span when it comes to food." He looks at Mario, "So, how about we cook up a feast for our hungry friends." Mario's eyes nearly jumped out of their sockets.

"C...cook...?" he muttered.

"Sure! You didn't forget how to cook, did you?" Mario just stood there with a blank stare on his face.

'Forget?' Topi screamed, feeling as though he was sucked out of Mario's body into a vortex of devastation, 'I BARELY KNOW HOW!'

"Um...Mario?" Luigi waved his hands in front of his muttering brother, "Is everything okay in there?" he tapped Mario's forehead to see him drop on his back, stiff as a statue, "That's strange. Mario loves to cook. What made him so stiff?"

"Look's like Mario's a little out of it at the moment," Mama Mario said, "Don't worry, Luigi. I'll help you cook that feast."

"Really?" Luigi asked, looking at Mama Mario, "I don't want to put you through too much trouble after you just arrived."

"Oh, don't worry. I'm always happy to help. Mama knows best, as they always say."

"Hey! Good idea!" Nana said, yanking Mario up by the back of his overalls, "In the mean time, he could give his hairy buddy a few pointers on the structure of a woman's body!"

"But...I always believed that women put bigger coconuts in their chests as they get taller," Donkey Kong said, half dazed, "Isn't that why they never dress in front of males?"

"You want two lumps to go with that concussion?" Nana yelled, holding the base of her ice hammer dangerously close to his face. Donkey Kong yelps and covers his head.

"No! NO! I'LL LISTEN! I'LL LISTEN!"

- - -

After dinner and a decent conversation, everyone headed off to bed for the night. Luigi looked at the bottom mattress of the top bunk. Since Mario insisted he sleep with Pauline and Nana wasn't a big fan of bunk beds, Popo took the top bunk. The blue Ice Climber was staring at the ceiling, resting the back of his head on his hands.

"Hey, can I ask you something?" he asked. Popo responded by muffling a curious grunt, "What will you two be doing now?"

"Well..." Popo sighed, "Since we've been banished from our clan for accidentally releasing something they considered a 'great evil', it won't take long before the Mayors find out. I guess when that happens, we either start running or accept what we did and get shipped to Exile Island."

"What? They can't!" Popo turned his head to see Luigi scramble out of bed, revealing his blue, sleeveless shirt and green sweatpants, and look up at him, "I don't care if they're the overlords of this Island, they can't just send you to that memory-deficient landscape because of an accident." Popo sat up, "Why not stay with us."

"But I don't..."

"Don't worry about it. Even if Mario isn't comfortable with you two hanging around, you already feel like a family to us. We'll find a way to keep the Mayors from getting their hands on you." Popo sighed and looked down.

"I'm...I'm not so sure about this..." he muttered, "I may have to discuss it with Nana in the morning." He looks at Luigi again, "Let's get some sleep until then."

- - -

"Is this how you and your brother are going to be spending the rest of your life?" Mama Mario asked as she sat on the side of her bed in the guestroom. Nana laid on her side under the covers with her back to the chubby widow.

"I...I guess so," she muttered, "It's just... I'm afraid of what might happen of the Mayors find out what we did. If...if they send us to Console Island, there might not be any life left for us to survive in... B-But if they send us to Exile Island, we'll lose our memories and become mindless sprites that do nothing but jump around and break things..." she curled up, teary-eyed, "I...I don't want to get sent somewhere where, no matter what, we'll end up alone and forgotten..." Nana felt something rub against the side of her head and looks up to see Mama Mario sitting beside her with her hand on her head.

"Don't cry," she said, "Its okay. You and Popo can come live with us, if you like. DK Jr. and Luigi seem to be taking a liking to you."

"Are...are you sure? We...we don't want to get you in trouble for something we did."

"No. Of course it's alright. Luigi and I both know it was an accident and we don't blame you for it. You just worry about getting some sleep and Luigi and I will discuss the situation in the morning." Nana tried to smile, then closes her eyes.

"Thanks..." she muttered. Mama Mario watched as she drifted off to sleep before getting up and moving towards her bed.

- - -

Pauline and Mario laid on a collapsible, blue covered, metal futon mattress in the moonlit living room. Pauline stared at the ceiling as Mario laid, curled up, beside her with his hand extending across her chest.

"Mr. Topi..." she muttered. Mario responded, half-asleep, by grunting, "I've been thinking..."

"About...?" Mario muttered.

"Do you think...do you think it's a bad idea tricking Luigi into thinking we're his family believed to be dead?"

"You do what you want. P.B. and I are just your helpers." Pauline looked at him as he chuckled slightly, "Listen to me. A Topi who grew up a dirty pervert is actually giving advice to someone who shouldn't even be near him. I guess it's true that even us minions, no matter how rotten we are, always have a soft side." Long pause, "Don't tell those Ice Climbers this. They'll think I've finally 'matured'." He sat up and looked at Pauline, "We could keep this up a while longer, but even I can't make you do what I want. When you feel that you've finally found your main objective, you go right ahead and learn from it. Don't expect someone like me to pull you away, saying it ain't your thing. After all, even a hero can't tell an undeveloped sprite he shouldn't be an undefeated villain when his mind tells him that's what he is, nor can a villain to a sprite destined to be a hero. Either way, they can still be friends as they battle each other for control of their goal. That's the law of life in the Gaming World. Live the role you were given, but choose to be something else when you complete that role for the day."

"Well...if you say so..."

"I don't say so. I know so." Mario laid back down, "Now, how about you and I get some shut eye. There's no telling what might happen tomorrow." Pauline watched Mario close his eyes and snuggle into her, then back at the ceiling.

"No telling what might happen tomorrow..." she mumbled as she slowly closed her eyes.

- - -

"Extinction..." echoed a whisper. Citizens of the city paid no attention as the dark clouds began to swirl. Those who did noticed a vapor-like foot slowly emerge from the sky.

"Infect..." another foot appears out of the sky. Now half the city noticed the mysterious shaping of the dark clouds.

"Devastate..." With each whispering word that echoed in their heads, a body began to form, slowly drifting towards the streets and buildings below. Once it did, it reared its head up and spread its arms out.

"CRASH!" it roared. Purple vapors poured out of its body and rushed towards the city like a flood. Everyone screamed in fright and turned to run. Those caught in the vapors collapsed and vanished while other fought to stay conscious.

- - -

Purple vapor leaked through the two inch gap under the window and filled up a foot of Luigi's bedroom while flooding out to other areas in the house. Luigi turned towards the window, causing most of the vapor to slither up the bunk and into his nose and mouth. Black veins appeared on his body as it turned pale. Luigi groaned and flopped on his back, struggling to breathe as he shivered violently.

Popo faced the wall with his hand resting beside him and his arm resting on his side outside the cover. He was suddenly awakened by Luigi's constant tossing and turning as he groggily opened his eyes halfway.

"Ugh..." he grumbled, "And I wonder why Nana hates sleeping in bunk beds..." he turned over, about to go back to sleep when he caught the purple vapors spilling into the room and shot up, "What the...?" he jumped off the bunk, finding himself up to his waist in vapor. He heard labored breathing and turned to see the black veins throbbing on Luigi's pale skin. Popo backed away, shaking in fear before he let out a terrifying scream that echoed throughout the entire house.

A similar scream followed a second after as Nana suddenly bolted into the room, white as a ghost and shaking everywhere.

"P-Popo!" she cried, "Something's wrong with Mama Mario!" she gasped when she saw Popo haul Luigi out of bed and slump his arm around the back of his neck.

"I don't think it's just Mama Mario that's suffering," he grunts, "Whatever this vapor is, it's probably infecting everyone in this house."

"Then...how come we aren't affected by it?"

"I don't know. But it might not be long before we end up on the floor, fighting for our lives." Popo dropped Luigi into Nana's arms, "Keep an eye on him. I'm going to call an ambulance!"

"But there could be Ice Climbers there who suffered the same disease these guys are suffering! What if they try to report us to the Mayors?" Popo stops before he reached the door. The thought of the Mayors showing up and sending them to Exile Island made him shudder. He quickly shook his head.

"We can't worry about that right now," he said, "Getting them help is more important than worrying about what'll happen to us." With that said, he continued towards the door.

"HELP! MY SON'S SICK!" cried a voice. Donkey Kong came charging down the hall with DK Jr. in his arms, covered in black veins and breathing heavily, only to collide with Popo. Once the blue Ice Climber hit the floor, both star-shaped boxes flew out of his pocket and broke open. Rainbow stardust spilled out and covered the entire room and a third of the hallway. Everyone but Luigi and DK Jr. coughed and hacked as they attempted to push the dust out of their face.

"God!" Nana gasped, "Since when was stardust hard to breathe in?"

Luigi's labored breathing slowed as he opened his eyes.

"What...what happened?" he muttered. Nana tried to stop coughing as she turned her head to see the black veins and pale color vanish from his body.

"L-Luigi?" she hacked. After a minute, the stardust died down along with the vapors covering the floor. Luigi looked around as though he was unfamiliar with his surroundings. P.B. rushed into the room, carting DK Jr. in his arms.

"My son! My son's dead!" he cried. DK Jr. quickly opens his eyes and looks up at him, catching the polar bear off guard as he giggles and stretches out his lips.

Luigi finally looked at P.B. before he suddenly jumps back, screaming and pointing at him.

"WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" he cried, "THERE'S A POLAR BEAR IN MY ROOM!"

"P-Polar bear?" both Ice Climbers yelped. P.B. screamed a girly-like scream as he tossed DK Jr. in the air, threw his paws under his chin and looked around, DK Jr. landing in Popo's arms, almost crushing him to the floor.

"Polar bear? Where?" he wailed. He turned to a full-length mirror where he saw his original reflection in place of where Donkey Kong should have been. Again, he screamed and ran around in circles, "ACK! POLAR BEAR! THERE'S A POLAR BEAR IN THE ROOM! SOMEONE CALL A HUNTER!"

"Why is everyone screaming in there?" grumbled a voice. Luigi looks out the door to see Topi and the glowing sprite walk into the room.

"W-What?" he yelped, taking a step back, "Where did you come from?" Topi looked at him like he was crazy.

"Did you just wake up or something? We just came from your living room!"

"But...but Mario and Pauline were sleeping there! What did you do to them?"

"What did we...?" Popo stops him by sticking a hand mirror in his face. Topi took one look and just about fell over with shock, "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! WHAT HAPPENED TO MY BODY?" the sprite covered her mouth in shock.

"I...I don't know..." the sprite muttered, "I don't know why this is happening... Maybe...maybe this was the reason why I've been sealed away... Maybe...I was never meant to be born..." she looked at everyone as tears wielded in her eyes, "I...I'm so sorry...to have gotten you all into this mess..." she trembled a bit before she turned and ran.

"B...Wait!" Topi cried as he ran out after her.

The minute the two were gone, the entire house shook.

"CRASH!" roared a voice. The five rushed to the living room window and saw a giant, cloud-like monster yelling the same word and spilling vapors all over the streets. Popo and Nana shuddered and nearly stumbled away from the window.

"W-What's the matter?" Luigi asked.

"Do...do you feel that?" Popo muttered, shaking from fright, "That dark, ominous feeling of terror. Like you just woke up from a nightmare." Luigi caught his hands shaking uncontrollably and grabs them.

"Is...is that that 'true evil' the Elder kept telling us about?" Nana asked, "The one they call the 'Crash Virus'?"

"Crash Virus?" Luigi muttered.

"Our elder," Popo said, "he told us horrible stories about the Crash Virus. It's said that when all humans lose interest in video games, their hatred causes the dark clouds to summon a monster that can wipe a single city with one move of its body and cause deadly floods with just one step. The Crash Virus is far more dangerous than the sprite everyone thought was created to turn us all into Console inhabitants."

They heard excited grunting and looked towards the window to see DK Jr. bouncing from foot to foot on the windowsill. Luigi panicked.

"ACK!" he yelped, "DK! GET AWAY FROM THE WINDOW!" DK Jr. turned around only to lose his footing and fall outside. P.B. screamed before he rushed over to the window, grabbing the baby gorilla by his feet.

As if signaling it to move, the Crash Virus lifted its foot and brought it down dangerously close to the two animals. The step caused a quake so big, it would knock the pen off the Richter scale. Roaring of a different kind was heard from a distance. P.B. looked to the side to see something wavering in the horizon. As the object grew near, it seemed to be getting bigger and bigger. When he finally made out what the object was, he screamed at the top of his lungs before the entire house shook violently, knocking the others to the floor.

Luigi sat up to see P.B. get yanked out of the window and rushed out to see him and DK Jr. swept away by a deadly flood.

"DK!" he cried. Before he had a chance to react, the house shook again. Luigi looked in the direction the flood was coming from to see cracks forming on the walls outside. Panicked, he shuts the window, rushes over to the Ice Climbers and grabs their hands, "Get the attic, quickly!"

The two didn't know what was going on, but let Luigi drag them deeper into the house. But as they reached the stairs of the attic, Nana suddenly gasped.

"Wait! Mama Mario's still in here!" she cried. She ripped her hand from Luigi and ran for the guestroom.

"Nana, get back here!" Popo yelled. He yanks his hand out of Luigi's to run after her, but stops as another quake shook the foundation.

Another wave of water could be heard slamming against the house as drops of it fell through the cracks in the ceiling. Luigi immediately grabs Popo and yanks him back in time to avoid a rain of wood and granite piling up on the floor an inch from them. They could hear Nana screaming before the piling stopped as nothing but rushing water came to their ears. Popo just sat there, white in the face and completely unmoved.

Water began trickling down the tiny holes in the woodpile. Luigi's eyes widened to the shock of how much water was now filling up the other side of the room from the flood. Without waiting for Popo to regain his senses, he grabs him by the back of his parka and scrambles up the stairs. He looked around the dusty, slightly empty and dark room until he found a window letting in the nightlights that were still standing in the flood. Luigi looks down to see the water slowly reaching the attic, rushes to the window and throws it open. The water outside was now an inch from his windowsill and the Crash Virus had stopped moving.

"CRASH!" it roared for the tenth time. The water surrounding its knees slowly began to turn purple as millions of sprites washed past it, some struggling to swim towards the nearest object sticking out of the water while others were too weak to even put up a fight.

Luigi yelped and yanked his head back into the attic, seeming to grab the Crash Virus' attention. It swung its claws into the roof of the attic and ripped it off, revealing the green plumber and the blue Ice Climber looking up at him with shock in their eyes. It roared again and stomped its foot, causing another humungous tidal wave to wash in from the ocean and smash against its waist, at the same time washing over what little house was sticking out of the water.

- - -

The sprite stands on the roof of a skyscraper, watching the floods wash over Arcade Island and take most of its population with it as she clutched the mushroom in her arms.

"HEY!" yelled a voice. The sprite looks down to see Topi jump out of the roof elevator and run towards her.

"You...you followed me..." she muttered. Topi stopped behind her, catching his breath.

"What're you doing standing here and watching this when you could be doing something to help!"

"I can't help..." the sprite muttered, turning and hugging the mushroom in despair, "I'll only put everyone in even more danger. I'm useless!"

"No, you're not!" the sprite looks at Topi again as he stood tall, threw one hand on his side and the other near his beak, "You'll never know what you're worth if you keep running from the truth! That Crash Virus didn't come because of you. It's because of the hatred people bestow upon our land. You are the only one I know of that can stop that thing!"

"What...what can I do?"

"Follow your beliefs. If they lead you to something that can help, don't be hesitant to unleash it. I don't care what those Mayors think, if you find a way to save this Island, you are a hero to anyone who sees you!" the sprite blinks in surprise and looks at the mushroom again.

"I...I don't know if it will help..." she muttered, then frowned, "But...I...I must fix this mess and turn things back to normal!" with that she flew off into the air. Topi ran up to the banister and watched her disappear from his sight.

"Best of luck to you..." he muttered.

- - -

Luigi screamed as he was washed down the raging flood with the rest of the helpless sprites flying past him. He felt his shirt jolt, then water brushing against the back of his neck. The green plumber turns to see Popo tightly gripping the flagpole of one of the taller apartment complexes.

"The roof...!" Popo grunted.

"What?" Luigi yelled over the roaring currents.

"The roof of these buildings...! They're the only ones tall enough to avoid the tidal waves! If you climb onto one of them, the Mayors might be able to transport you somewhere safe until they get this situation under control!"

"But what about you?" He heard the sound of snapping wood and looked past Popo to see splinters forming on the flagpole.

"Brace yourself, Luigi! I'm going to throw you as hard as I can!" Luigi gasped and turned his attention back to Popo, "I just hope it's enough to get you past the banister!"

"No! I'm not leaving you here!" Luigi yelled, "If that flagpole snaps, you'll be swept away by the flood!"

"You don't have a choice! Besides, there's nothing left for me to do. My sister's gone, and even if I do survive this flood, I'm still going to be chased by the Mayors. What's the point of me sticking around if it means getting you in trouble?" the flagpole was on its last splinter.

"There has to be a way to keep you out of trouble and prove you're innocence!" Popo increased his grip on Luigi's shirt.

"Sorry, Luigi! The only thing I can do is make sure your brother sees you alive when he returns!" with that, he hurled Luigi out of the water.

Luigi hits the granite of the roof, scrambles to his feet and ran over to the banister in time to see the flagpole snap.

"NO!" he cried as he watched Popo get swept down the street by the flood.

"CRASH!" Luigi snapped his head up to see the Crash Virus standing in front of the apartment complex, leering down at him as purple smoke rose out of its body. The green plumber shuddered and stumbled away as it brought its fist up to strike only to yank it back by a spray of fire shooting out at it. Luigi looks down to see the aging flower stand in front of him, spreading its pedals out in a protective stance.

"My...my flower..." Luigi muttered. He looks up to see the Crash Virus shake its burnt hand and leer at him again, growling with rage. The flower tightened its frown, almost seeming ready to take on whatever cameat it.

- - -

Deep within the pile of wood was a gap slowly dripping with water from the outside flood. Nana laid flat on her stomach with blood trickling down the left side of her forehead. The sound of a woman groaning barely woke her as she tried to get up, feeling some of her broken bones stab against her flesh. She stopped, shaking from pain and lifted her bloodied head to see Mama Mario buried up to her waist in wood, black veins covering her ghost white skin.

"Ma...Mama Mario..." she groaned as she dragged herself towards the chubby woman. Mama Mario opened her eyes halfway, seeing her drop to the floor an inch from her.

"My...my son..." she mumbled, "Is he safe...?"

"I...I hope he is..." Nana struggled to her hands, reaching into her pocket and pulling out a tin, star-shaped box, "This...this box... I...I don't know if it'll heal you're wounds...but it might get rid of the effects caused by those clouds..." Mama Mario looked at the tin box, smiled, slowly placed her hand on it and lowered it down.

"Save...save it...for my son..." she mumbled, "I...I know...what I saw...was not really who I thought it was..." Nana seemed too weak from the lack of blood to look shocked, "Save your strength...and rest...I...I will take care of...everything..."

Mama Mario's entire body glowed and morphed into a star. Nana watched, barley conscious, as the star disappeared through the pile of wood.

"Mama...Mama Mario..." she slurred, slowly lowering her head towards the rising puddle, "Don't...don't...go..." her eyes slid shut.

- - -

The sprite appeared at the black tornado flying out of the nearly completed temple. Her expression changed from determined to fear as she backs away some, shuddering, shakes her head, regaining her determined expression, and dives into the surface of the tornado. She stops at the bottom of the tornado where the figure trapped in the towering crystal remained. She placed her hand on the surface of the crystal only to yank it back as surge of black electricity jumped onto her hand.

She looked at the figure again. This time, its appearance was clearer than when she last saw it. A short man wearing a plumber outfit stood floating a foot off the ground as though he had been blown off his feet. More visions floated in her head as she placed her hand on her forehead and stroked it.

"These...these visions..." she mumbled, "I...I understand now... I understand...what I was made for..." she walked closer to the crystal, "Can...can you hear me...? I...I know it must be hard for you after...after what you've been through...but I'm begging you please...save your homeland." Nothing happened. Tears began welding up in her eyes, "Your...your brother is worried about you... I...I don't think he can stop this on his own. He needs you. Please...if not for the sake of this world, at least do it for your brother...!"

"Heed your calls," echoed a voice. The sprite looks up to see the glowing star appear beside her. A vision of Mama Mario seemed to appear in front of it.

"You're...?" Mama Mario's vision nodded.

"The real one has been deleted for a long time. When I saw you, I felt I should help you fully understand your role in life. Now that you have recovered your lost program, I must help you free the one man who will help you carry out that role." The star turned to the figure trapped inside the crystal, "Hold me high and give me every power you have." The sprite slowly grasped her hands around the sides of the star and raised it into the sky.

The entire, tornado-filled room exploded as a bright light took its place and shot into the sky. The world seemed to be engulfed in a bright light, blinding those who had managed to pull themselves onto dry land to avoid the raging floods.

- - -

The Crash Virus yanked its hand back again to avoid the flower's fiery breath. Luigi could see it hunch over, bobbing up and down as though it were trying to catch its breath. The Crash Virus shook its hand again, glaring at the flower with its glowing red eye.

"DESTROY!" it roared, raising its hand high in the air. But before it could strike again, a flash of light shot out between it and Luigi. The green plumber covered his eyes to shield the light as a shadow slowly appeared below his arm. The light dimmed a bit, allowing Luigi to remove his arm to see who was now standing in front of him.

"Wha...?" he gasped, staring at the back of his older brother. The Crash Virus was equally shocked, "Is...is that really...?"

"Yes..." said a voice. Luigi turned around to see the sprite standing behind him, wearing a pink dress and a tiara, "The last star...gave up its strength to free him..."

The Crash Virus growled and swung its claws towards Mario only to hit a barrier that turned it into vapor. It roared and stumbled back, grabbing the stump of its hand as purple smoke spilled out of it. The mushroom wiggled out of the sprites arm and jumped towards Mario, breaking into pixels and entering his back.

Mario's shape glowed and grew to the same height of the Crash Virus, who turned to see him slip from the roof of the apartment and up to his knees in the raging currents. The cloud-like monster growled and charged towards him, swinging his other claws only to be caught by his giant hand. The Crash Virus growled in anger, spun around and threw him halfway across the street as he slammed into the flood.

"MARIO!" Luigi cried. Mario struggled to get up, glaring at the Crash Virus with sheer determination in his eyes. The flower jumps off the roof, flying towards the giant, red plumber and exploding into pixels.

The Crash Virus' eyes widened as each pixel entered Mario's body and change it from red and blue to red and white. It roared, exhaling a breath of purple fire towards the red plumber who stood there, unmoving.

"NO!" Luigi yelled, "MARIO! WHAT'RE YOU DOING? YOU'LL GET SCORCHED!"

Mario remained unmoving. The fire slammed into his chest and flew around it, barely fazing him. The Crash Virus' eyes widened even more as he points his finger at it, building up a fireball the size of his fist.

"CRASH!" the Crash Virus roared, trembling with rage. It charged towards Mario with its claws in front of it, "DESTROY!" Mario released the fireball, causing it to slam into the Crash Virus' chest and break out its back. It stumbled back, grabbing where it was hit while trembling in pain, then reared its head up into the air, screaming at the top of its lungs, "CRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!"

The Crash Virus' body bled an eerie, white glow as beams of it shot out in various directions before it exploded, filling the Island with blinding light. The flood drowning out a quarter of Arcade Island evaporated, some returning to the ocean where the purple faded back to its natural blue. The once dark sky turned gray, then white before it slowly dispersed, revealing a slowly rising sun.

- - -

P.B. sat up and shook his soggy head, examining his new surroundings. It was the jungles of Arcade Island similar to that of the Donkey Kong Jr. game. He blinked and felt his entire body.

"Am...am I alive?" he mutters to himself. He looks in front of him to see DK Jr. clapping his hands and feet as though he enjoyed the flood.

- - -

Topi watched the sky clear up, a tear welding up in his left eye.

"She...she did it..." He dropped to his rump and cried, "OH, I'M SO PROUD OF MY LITTLE GIRL! SHE FINALLY DID WHAT SHE WAS TOLD!"

- - -

Luigi moved his arms from his face to find himself in an area of light, standing directly in front of Mario, back to his normal size with his trademark blue shirt and red overalls.

"Mario..." he muttered. He leapt towards his big brother, arms first, only to fly right past him and hit the ground. He gasped and turned around to see Mario turn his head towards him with a look of depression on his face, "Mario...what's happening to you?" Mario remained silent. Luigi saw him slowly dissolving into pixels, floating into the vastness of the bright light, "No...Mario! Don't go!" he ran for Mario only to miss the last pixel floating into the sky.

"Don't worry," the sprite said, getting Luigi's attention as he turned to look at her, "Mario isn't completely gone. He just returned to Console Island. And...and I believe he wants you to join him...but only when you feel ready." She bows to Luigi, "Thank you...for helping me understand my role in life." With that, she slowly began to dissolve.

"W-Wait!" Luigi called out, "What do you mean by that?" he stretches his arm out towards her only to see her disappear completely.

- - -

Nana groaned and opened her eyes, staring at the ceiling of a hospital bed room. She gasped and sat up, looking down to find herself in one piece and barely in pain.

"Nana! You're okay!" cried a voice. Nana looked beside her to see Popo practically glomp her, catching her by surprise.

"Wha...what happened?" she asked. Popo pulled away, his hands still on her shoulders.

"I don't know. When I woke up, the entire Island looked like it wasn't damaged by the flood. Not only that, the dark clouds that were surrounding the Island vanished and everyone recovered from the illness caused by them."

"And...what about Luigi and Mama Mario...?"

"I think I saw Luigi heading for the cemetery. He looked a bit depressed about something."

- - -

Luigi walked along an open field full of holographic headstones with a boutique of flowers wrapped in a sheet of paper. He looked around each row until he saw a particular headstone and stopped in front of it. The headstone flickered a bit from age, but its name still showed as though it refused to die: "Mama Mario".

"It's strange," he said to the headstone, "Yesterday, when I saw you, I almost thought the Mayors brought you back from pity." He laid the flowers down in front of the headstone, "I don't care how you showed up, I was at least happy to see you one last time." He sat down and crossed his legs, "You know what? I realized that Mario isn't completely gone. He's still alive somewhere. And...when I feel ready...I'm going to go look for him...and bring him back to Arcade Island to see you. I only wished he was really there to see you one last time..."

Luigi mentally imagined Mama Mario appearing in front of him with a warm smile and reaching out to hug him.

- - -

A year has past since the invasion of the Crash Virus. While Arcade Island remained skeptical of those who were turned into Console sprites during the hellish nightmare, most had come to respect what had been going on. Though the Arcade sprites turned Console could no longer get into their own simulations, they were still able to stay alive through their part-time jobs. The Mayors' decision on what to do with this semi disaster remained unsolved.

Luigi kept up with his role as plumber. Because of his and DK Jr.'s programming were rerouted into Console data, neither of them could get into their own game. But they didn't seem to mind, since having to run through a maze with a blocky replacement wasn't as fun as doing it with their entire family.

A cavern mountain was found in Icicle Mountain near the portal to the center of Arcade Island. There, Ice Climbers, minions and vegetables that were cast out of their tribe could make a living until arrangements could be made to send them to better places on the map.

With Nana and Popo being the body guards of the Outcast Ice Climber clan, Topi and P.B.'s panty raid were kept to a minimal. They're somewhat buddy-buddyness with the perverted minions usually lands them on random treasure hunts in the most talked about places in the world. The two Ice Climbers would made frequent visits to the Mario residence when they weren't busy keeping and Topi and P.B. away from the Ice Climber clan.

- - -

At the far end of Console Island, a city began to form. Many of the civilians living there were stubby, short and had mushrooms for heads. For most, it was the start of a new life for the Island rumored to be extinct.

Only one sprite was different from the rest. A young, human princess with blonde hair ruled over the city. Her kind-heartedness was the reason the city was still alive. Unknown to them, something evil was about to threaten their very existence.

A strange meteor crashed into the wastelands two miles from the city. The Princess rushed out of her castle to see what was going on. From the distance, the mushroom people began fleeing in terror as a shadow and a flood of minions began walking towards her. Her eyes widened in fright and her mouth quivered as the shadow almost towered over her, laughing sinisterly before roaring and throwing its arms out towards her.

OOC: I know this may not have been what some of you thought would've been the outcome of Arcade Island, but I tried my hardest to try and stick as close to history as possible.

Next Chapter: Arcade Island was beginning to suffer a different change involving money. The lack of interest of the humans on earth left little points for anyone to scrounge around for a decent meal. Fed up, Luigi packs his bags and, with DK Jr.'s help, makes his way to Console Island.

Also making their way to Console Island was the adventurous Topi and his small band of treasure hunters after a rumor of a temple full of crystals sparks his interest. What no one had realized was that they were about to go on an adventure that far exceeds what they had hoped for. With a prophecy waiting to be fulfilled and new danger around the corner, will Topi and the gang be able to pull off a treasure heist and make it out before they find themselves in even deeper trouble?


End file.
